One Year in Australia: The Adventure That Changed Us
- Aug 11
- 7 min read
Australia was a dream we actually never thought we had.
But after living together in Germany for 4 years, we decided it was time to leave our comfort zone and start a completely new chapter on the other side of the world. What started as a plan to spend some time abroad turned into one of the biggest adventures of our lives.
Over a year, we travelled more than 35,000 kilometres, explored almost every state and territory (except Tasmania and the ACT - Canberra), slept in an old Subaru, worked different seasonal jobs, looked after homes and pets of locals, met incredible people and experienced landscapes that still feel unreal.
This is the story of our Australian adventure — the places, the challenges and the moments that made us stronger and the most grateful.
Why Australia?
Well, we wrote a whole article about why and how we chose Australia. It was quite random, actually.
For us, it represented a chance to experience life differently. A challenge to start from zero in a country we did not know. After a few years of working regular jobs and building our life together in Germany, we felt we needed some bigger change and wanted to see what would happen if we followed our curiosity.
However, the funny thing is that travelling around Australia was never actually the original plan. Our idea was completely different. We thought moving to another country was already a big enough change.
After we finally decided on the country (yes we were considering a few others too), we imagined finding jobs in one of the bigger cities (we were especially considering Brisbane), Vicente finding a baseball team, renting an apartment and exploring the surrouding areas during our free time..
But Australia had other plans for us.
After a few weeks of searching for jobs, we decided to buy a car to give ourselves more flexibility. Our idea was simple: drive further away from Sydney, find a job somewhere along the way and then settle down once we found the right place.
We had no idea that this "temporary" road trip would become our whole Australian adventure.
It was just after Christmas, our first housesit was coming to an end, and we knew we had to leave. We had a car, but no home and no fixed plan. So we improvised.
We went to a DIY store, bought some wooden planks and a foldable mattress and decided to build a sleeping platform in our car. With inspiration from Pinterest, basic tools borrowed from the house we were staying in and a lot of uncertainty, we somehow managed to create our little home on wheels.
Looking back, we still cannot believe we actually built it ourselves and that it served us for the whole year, lol!
And surprisingly, it was much more comfortable than we expected.
Very quickly, we fell in love with this new way of travelling. We loved the freedom of waking up somewhere different every morning, deciding our next destination as we went and having the flexibility to follow our curiosity.
One beautiful place led to another. A quick stop turned into another adventure, and soon we found ourselves saying: "What about going there too?"
What was supposed to be a short road trip slowly transformed into a year-long journey around Australia. If we knew this, we would definitely had bought a bigger car, haha!
Apart from a few stops in between — where we worked, saved money or swapped our car for the comfort of a house sit when we needed more space and a proper break — the road became our home.
And that is how our unexpected Australian adventure began.
Life on the road
Sleeping in our car
For many people, sleeping in a car for months sounds uncomfortable. And yes, sometimes it was.
But waking up surrounded by nature, watching sunsets in places we never imagined reaching and having the freedom to change our plans made every difficult moment worth it.
As we mentioned already - when we first built our sleeping setup, we honestly had no idea how long we would actually use it.
The plan was never to live in a car. It started as a simple solution — we needed somewhere to sleep while we figured out our next steps. But what began as a necessity quickly became one of our favourite parts of our Australian adventure.
Our little Subaru became our tiny home on wheels.
It was not luxurious. We had limited space, we had to be creative with storage, and there were definitely moments when we missed having a proper bed, a warm shower (or just ANY shower, sometimes), a kitchen or simply a place where we could leave our things without reorganising everything every single day.
But the freedom was something we had never experienced before.
We loved waking up somewhere completely different every morning. One day we could be next to the ocean, another day surrounded by mountains, bushes, or vast landscapes - not to over-romanticize it either, sometimes we literally stayed in parking lots, but you get the point..
We could change our plans whenever we wanted, follow the weather and stay longer in places that captured our hearts. Just do whatever we wanted at the moment.
Some of our favourite mornings were the simplest ones — opening the car door, stepping outside and realising we were surrounded by a landscape that looked like it belonged in a movie. Then cooking a coffee and eating a toast with peanut butter and jelly.
Of course, there were also funny moments and challenges. Finding places to sleep, dealing with extreme temperatures or a mosquito invasion, cooking when windy or rainy, car issues, keeping everything organised in a small space and learning to live with much less than we were used to.. all became part of the experience.
But surprisingly, we adapted quickly. After a while, we stopped seeing the car as something temporary. It became part of the adventure — our bedroom, kitchen, pantry, closet, and a car all in one.
Living in such a small space taught us that comfort does not always come from having more things. Sometimes it comes from doing what you want and sharing those moments with the right person.
Even today, when we look back at those months, we don't remember the lack of space. We remember the freedom, the unexpected places we discovered and the memories we created together.
Our Subaru was never just a car. For a year, it was our home.
Our car life in numbers
175 nights sleeping in the car
35,000+ km driven
1 flat tyre in the middle of nowhere
1 radiator replaced
1 fine for camping in a wrong place (100 AUD in a year was not bad though, lol)
1 Subaru ending up at a car wrecker (RIP)
Working and travelling
One of the biggest things we learned during our year in Australia was that long-term travel is not always about constantly moving. Sometimes, the best way to experience a country is to slow down, stay somewhere longer and become part of everyday life.
To make our adventure sustainable, we combined travelling with working along the way. We took different seasonal jobs, stayed in places we might not have discovered otherwise and met incredible people who became part of the story.
Working while travelling gave us a completely different perspective. Instead of only seeing Australia as visitors, we experienced parts of everyday life — waking up for early shifts, exploring new surroundings after work, meeting locals and understanding what life in Australia is really like.
Of course, it was not always easy. Balancing work, travelling and living out of our car came with challenges. There were days when we were tired, missed having our own space, or had to adjust our plans because of work opportunities, weather or unexpected situations.
But those moments were also part of the adventure.
Some of our favourite memories came from the periods when we stayed in one place longer. We had the chance to connect with people, appreciate the little moments, and discover hidden and remote corners of Australia (some of which you will not even find on the map).
Looking back, we are grateful that our journey was not just about ticking destinations off a list. Working along the way allowed us to experience Australia more deeply, understand its lifestyle, culture, and create memories that we would never have had as ordinary tourists.
What did we do for work?
Preparing pizzas in a pizzeria
Packing apples in a warehouse
Selling fast food at the Adelaide Fringe Festival
Hotel/camping all-rounder (housekeeping and reception)
Waiter at a café
Roadhouse all-rounder (cooking, serving customers, fuel sales)
Farm hand, dog grooming and au-pair
Places that took our breath away
Uluru / Red Centre
Whitsundays and The Great Barrier Reef
Karijini National Park
Esperance & Cape Le Grand
Flinders Ranges
Blue Mountains
Wilsons Promontory National Park
Rottnest Island
What Australia Taught Us
Slowing down
You cannot rush Australia.
Flexibility
The best moments often weren't planned. Even if you do plan, things change. Weather changes, camp spots are full, jobs fall through, things happen unexpectedly..
Minimalism
Living out of a car changed our perspective. You need way less stuff than you think. Most things we own, we actually do not need.
Travel brings you closer
Sharing experiences and challenges makes you a stronger team. You remember moments like snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, seeing Uluru for the first time, driving 8 hours through nowhere..
Appreciation
Little things suddenly matter a lot. A warm shower. A proper bed. A good meal. Free wifi. A sunset together after a long drive.
Self reliance
Flat tire in the middle of nowhere? No signal? Something broke? Searching for a job and doing all the paper work in a foreign country? You just need to figure it out somehow..
Would We Do It Again?
ABSOLUTELY.
Australia challenged us, surprised us and gave us memories we will carry forever.
Even now, looking back at thousands of photos and kilometres travelled, it still feels a little unreal that we actually did it. It was not easy at all, but we do miss it sometimes.
For anyone dreaming about exploring Australia (or any other place), our biggest advice is simple: Don't wait for the perfect moment. Take the leap and experience it for yourself.
Continue exploring
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