Tonight’s adventures surprised me after an otherwise normal sort of day for us. We arranged to meet at the house of local homeschoolers. It’s always a pleasure to meet up with new friends — some have read about us online, and others know nothing about our family. I assume nothing and wait to see what happens.

The house was a beautifully renovated suburban home in Fremantle. Our girls played mostly among themselves, but I heard the story of another guest — a woman who was feeling quite lost within herself. She had run out of passion, lost her energy and perhaps didn’t know where to start to find it again.

When I offered to follow her home and help with something that was weighing on her mind, I knew that an extra hand around the house would help her feel better. What I didn’t count on was that our children would join together to play so effortlessly, that we would connect on a much more heart-felt level and that our family would be directly inspired to continue our pursuit of musical knowledge.

When Brian comes home, he introduces us to the three didgeridoos he keeps in the corner of the room. Brioni is a natural and would like to have her own pipe on which to practice. I'll soon need to add one to our growing collection of musical instruments.

Suburbia continues to surprise me. I may look like a hippy with my flower-strewn bus, beaded dreadlocks and barefoot children, but I’m simply the obvious one. As we travel, I discover that more and more “normal” houses are populated by cultural subversives. They’re young people and families who are re-thinking their priorities, reconsidering their allocation of time and resources and are making a conscious effort to buy food and products that are ecologically sustainable.

These suburban hippies understand the possibilities that life has to offer. They recognise the relationships that reflect their own strengths and weaknesses back at them. They’re constantly assessing themselves, questioning their motives and — somehow — feeling trapped in a life that is not what they originally aspired to.

I remember feeling that same entrapment. I remember feeling frustrated that the community we sought was not forthcoming and that the trappings of a steady income and well-furnished home weren’t fulfilling. I remember feeling that I was in a holding pattern, circling over the landing strip that would allow me to alight in a brand-new life where I could pursue adventures and invest myself fully. I felt that life was full of necessary evil restrictions — we were waiting for the right time, for more money, for a coveted opportunity or the perfect stroke of luck.

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs

Then I woke up and realised that I was living now, and I didn’t want the life I lived to be a boring one where my children would end up in the same sad, grey world that I inhabited! I decided to trust in the unknown, believing that the future was good if I invested good into my present. I decided to start living passionately in the present — joyously, with more music, dancing and colour.

Leaving the comfort of our home, we stepped out and started pursing adventures. We started talking to people — everyone! People are friendly, we soon discovered, and these serendipitous encounters led to opportunities for more adventures.

Life became rich and multi-coloured. Relationships became real and meaningful. We weren’t talking about renovations and shopping bargains anymore. We were discussing long-held fears, barriers to love and engrained conditioning. We shared our personal journeys and met others who were forging their own individual paths.

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” — Carl Bard

Now our lives have snowballed into a huge adventure. Yes, it has not been the future I envisioned four years ago, but we’ve met so many wonderful people and heard their inspiring stories. Surely some of this will rub off onto our girls. I pray that our travels will empower our girls to make their own adventures and change the world — one relationship at a time — just as it has for me!