{"id":58121,"date":"2026-07-25T05:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T05:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/58121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T05:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T05:37:15","slug":"the-hynes-family-couple-sell-home-have-wild-new-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/58121\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hynes Family: Couple sell home, have wild new life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Aussie mum has revealed why she left everything behind to start a completely new life with her family. <\/p>\n<p>For outsiders looking in, anyone would think that Hollie Hynes truly had it all. <\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old and her husband Wade, 33, were living on the NSW Central Coast in the house they had bought together, raising their children Bobbie, now six, and Pippa, now five. <\/p>\n<p>Hollie was working as a teacher and her husband a plumber, with the pair making a steady income and living a very normal life.<\/p>\n<p>It was meant to be the \u201cAustralian Dream\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>But deep down, things were not so peachy. <\/p>\n<p>Both were constantly busy, with very little free time to spend as a family.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/541760014567c5445e520fa615b39ef9\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Aussie family's incredible new life\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>As the years went on, despite living the \u201cpicture perfect life\u201d, the truth was that they were both deeply unhappy with the routine \u2013 so they decided to make a dramatic change.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of 2023, the young couple sold their house, packed up everything they owned and hit the road in a 1970s caravan. <\/p>\n<p>Now almost three years on, they haven\u2019t looked back. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were so deep in the daily grind and it felt like we were just on this hamster wheel,\u201d Hollie told news.com.au.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWade worked six days a week and would only come home at witching hour, I was working full-time and the kids went to preschool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only time we\u2019d all spend together as a family was on the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just woke up one day and said, this can\u2019t be it for us. We can\u2019t do this forever.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis can\u2019t be the Australian dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The mum said it was a terrifying move, made only worse by the voices of her friends and family telling her she had made the \u201cworst mistake\u201d of her life. <\/p>\n<p>But Hollie, who runs her own marketing agency and shares her family\u2019s adventures <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/the.hynes.family\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.instagram.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">over on Instagram<\/a>, is thankful that they trusted their instincts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was scarier for us to be staying still rather than going and making that move,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just had to listen to our gut and lean into the freedom of it all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone was like Hollie, are you sure you\u2019re doing the right thing, this will never last, you\u2019re a clean freak you can\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven after we first left, I was doubting my decisions, hoping I\u2019d made the right one. It is hard to let go of that normalised way of life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it was costing us money to own it and it wasn\u2019t worth it. Letting go of it was a huge weight off our shoulders and gave us more freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The couple had always been adventurous and shared a passion for overseas travel, but had never seen much of their own backyard.<\/p>\n<p>For a change of pace, Hollie and Wade decided to take a trip up to Queensland, with the idea that they might eventually move there.<\/p>\n<p>But what they did not expect was to fall so deeply in love with caravanning. So much so, that they decided to sell their Central Coast home and travel Australia full-time. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt started with us thinking we\u2019d move up to Queensland and make a fun road trip out of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a 1970s viscount caravan that we did up and we just packed up our house and set off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was during that trip that we realised okay, this is it for us. This is what we want to be doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout three months in, we knew we were in it for the long haul. This was when it started feeling less like a holiday and it became our day to day life. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were by the beach every day, camping by the ocean and having the best adventures. Going up to Noosa and the Whitsundays was a huge highlight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing out in nature was so fulfilling, and it just felt like yep, this is how life is meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision to sell their home was not an easy one, and the couple were met with a fair amount of doubt and a whole lot of questions from their loved ones. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople couldn\u2019t believe what we were doing, and even know, we get asked how we can live like this,\u201d she revealed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut my question to them is, how do you do what you\u2019re doing? The daily grind, day after day?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same life doesn\u2019t fit everyone. We are happier now than we\u2019ve ever been before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople ask me all the time if I regret getting rid of the house. But I don\u2019t, not for one second.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat life is just not what we wanted. We knew we didn\u2019t want to go back there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After swapping their 1970s caravan for something a little more modern, they can now live comfortably on the road in their fully self-contained vehicle. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have everything we need in there, and we don\u2019t need to be connected to power as we have solar,\u201d Hollie explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a kitchen in there and triple bunk beds, the girls love it. We love cooking outside and use the BBQ a lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo shower, we have large water tanks. We are fully set up to live off-grid for an extended period. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe enjoy our slow mornings, we have brekkie and then will do something out in nature, like going to the beach or going for a hike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we\u2019ll come home, have dinner, head to bed and do it all again the next day. It\u2019s the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The family have travelled all over Australia, with the Northern Territory and Western Australia being a huge highlight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn particular we loved doing the Gibb River Road, it was unlike anything we\u2019ve ever experienced before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the Ningaloo. Amazing snorkelling, fishing and living on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hollie and Wade have homeschooled their girls but said they are getting a better education exploring Australia than they could ever get inside a classroom.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the family is taking a break from the caravan life to be back home with family on the Central Coast, as they welcomed their son Buddy, now eight months, into the world. <\/p>\n<p>As soon as they can, they plan to get back on the road as a family-of-five, ready for a whole new stack of exciting adventures. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say to anyone thinking about this kind of lifestyle, just take a chance and do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can be daunting. It is never going to be the perfect time or situation, but sometimes you just need that little bit of courage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen to your gut. It is your life and you have to live it how you want to. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really never want this to end and I think we\u2019ll just keep travelling in whatever way we can.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been so freeing and eye-opening to see what life an be and what you can do with that bit of bravery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Aussie mum has revealed why she left everything behind to start a completely new life with 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