NOTE FROM CAETLYN OWNER/FOUNDER
I am so thrilled to be releasing this inspiring interview with the wonderful Maddison Cate, as my family have stepped into a very similar situation that Maddison and her family already have well and truly lived to the fullest experience. Her words and guidance have been such an inspiration to me, and I hope, to my Blythe and Bodhi community. A special thank you to Belinda the owner of Shell Water at Sellicks Beach for offering her space to relax, unwind and chat all things simple living.
Q.
Maddison as you know my family and I are about to start a very similar journey which is what you have recently experienced. I would love for you to share why you initially chose to live van life with your little family.
We chose van life for a few reasons! My partner, Kyle, and I are travellers at heart. We fell pregnant by surprise after a couple years of solid travel and knew we wanted to find a way to keep on going with a little one in tow, because we weren't quite done yet. We also hadn't found a place that truly felt like home for us yet and finding like minded community was a big piece of that. So we came back to SA to give birth to Reef and after a year of being in a home we knew it wasn't for us at that moment in time. We wanted to spend as much quality time together as possible, especially while our little guy was young, so we decided to go all in on van life. This meant we could bring down our living expenses and keep Kyle at home with us, while I continued working remotely. So we took the plunge, bought a secondhand van and started turning it into our little home on wheels. For us it was about being as present as possible with our son, spending our days together as a family, having more freedom financially and location wise and also scouting Australia for a place that could one day be home for us.
Q.
What did you learn within yourselves the most, or what have you taken as the most memorable experience with this journey of simple life, travel and adventure.
A big takeaway for us was just how little we need to be happy and content in life. We minimised so much when we moved into the van, only taking with us the essentials and life immediately felt more easeful. We loved knowing that everything we needed was right there with us, in our little space. Another key takeaway was just how much our little ones thrive in nature. Our son went from having a whole room for just his toys back in our rental, to a little draw in the van and to be honest we were expecting a tougher transition for him, but we were so blown away with how much more independent play he had with his handful of toys in an afternoon at the beach. We watched his confidence, happiness and overall well being skyrocket. Our greatest memories that we will hold close to our hearts forever are the afternoons cuddled around a campfire together, cooking the fish Kyle caught us for dinner on the fire, watching the sun go down and sharing our favourite parts of the day.
Q.
What has been the hardest or most challenging parts of van life.
Van life definitely isn't without struggle. I very much feel like when moving from homelife to van life you just trade one set of challenges & struggles for another - as with most things in life! But for us some of the biggest challenges were being limited to one vehicle or space. For instance, if I had work to do or if we had to go to the shops, we all had to pack up and head into town together and wait around until it's done. Day to day tasks also take a lot longer, we had one day a week that was our "jobs day", where we filled up our water tanks, diesel, did a big food shop and did laundry. Being away from friends, family and support was also huge. We didn't ever have inlaws around to take Reef for a couple hours if we wanted some quality time, it was all on us. And lastly, this was something I personally struggled with which might sound a bit silly, but with all the freedom and endless destinations and opportunities that each day holds, after time you can start to get decision fatigue and get really over having to plan where's next or where's a safe place to park up for the night.
Q.
Now I know you have big plans for you and your family at the moment, tell me about your tiny home you are currently building, this is inspiring for me as my family want to do the same.
Yes! We're in the middle of maybe the busiest and craziest times of our life. We found out we were pregnant with our second little one late last year which was a massive surprise. We had to make a plan pretty quickly, because our van only had space for 3 seats and we're about to become a family of 4. A tiny home was always a big dream of ours and we always said that would be the next step, so this little surprise of ours just brought that along a bit quicker than expected. So right now we are deep in the building phase of our tiny, we're making it fully off-grid, as sustainable and low-tox as possible, while being comfortable for a family of 4. It's been a bit stressful with our tight timeline...but I'm having so much fun and learning so much along the way! If anyones curious, Kyle's older brother is an incredible builder and he is the man behind our tiny home build. You can connect with him over on Instagram, he's just starting out his page: https://www.instagram.com/builtjam/
Q.
You and I were talking this morning, simple living and caravan family life is becoming the norm. What’s the best advice you can give to anyone else out there who wants to or has thought about doing the same.
You never know until you try! We have chatted with so many people that tell us they wish they did it while they were younger or when they had the opportunity to do so. I think so many people hold back because of fear of the unknown or "what if it doesn't work out". All I can say is if you have the pull to give it a try, go for it! It doesn't matter if it's for a month, 3 months or a few years, I can guarantee you'll make memories that you'll be looking back on for the rest of your life and life as you know it will always be ready and waiting for you to come back if you choose to. As housing becomes more out of reach, there are now so many people and families looking for alternatives and different ways of living ...If you're craving some more freedom, less financial pressure and more quality time I say make the jump! And lastly, on a more practical note, start researching vehicles! There are so many ways of doing it - whether it be van life, caravan life or a bus or four wheel drive - each setup has pros and cons so start doing some research into what will suit your needs and get you to the places you want to be.
Q.
Maddison congratulations to your new little addition to the family, you are currently 31 weeks and looking so radiant. I bet Reef is really excited to have a sibling. I like to call you ' a free loving nature mama ' what have you taught Reef that maybe you feel you couldn't without doing what you have done as a family?
Thank you beautiful! This pregnancy is just flying on by and we can't believe we will be meeting this little person so soon now. This is such a great question and there are so many answers I could give, but ultimately I think him seeing his mum and dad taking risks, going against the grain and not being afraid to follow their heart is something he might not have seen without us taking the big jump that we did.
He's got to witness us both in our elements, being out in nature doing the things we love - Kyle spending his days spear fishing, bringing us back dinner, hiking and surfing and me getting to be my most radiant self just with all the sunshine and nature medicine. He has witnessed so much joy within us both and within our little family that might have been drowned out by the everyday demands of life if we weren't in such a unique situation together. And of course, he has such a deep appreciation for nature which might not be as strong if we didn't spend 50% of our days outside for the last 2 years.
Visit _ Maddison IG
