Paradise Lost - Leaving Fraser Island

Its 10am, a warm 28 degrees in Rainbow Beach, Australia.

Myself, Taran and Sean (our mate from England whose currently visiting and travelling with us) are sitting beside a pool, taking cover in the shade after a few too many rays yesterday. Only 24 hours ago we were still on Fraser Island, a special place that had become home over the last 2 months. We lived in a safari tent, just up from a beach, on the grounds of an extremely popular holiday resort (and the only privately owned campsite on the island). We worked hard for 2 months, pulling a few long stretches with very few days off, and do you know what, it simply got old. Living on a tropical island got old.

We just couldn't do it any more. Maybe it was the fact we had come from a farm, another remote living situation, straight into an intense workplace, also in a super isolated spot.

We just got to a point within our 5th month of being away from civilisation, where we just needed to re-join it. Not least to come back to our passion of doing this blog. We had half-decent internet at the farm and we didn't feel entirely disconnected from the website, but there's a lot that goes into this blog, and only now, having come back to 'mainland' (as it will always now be referred to since island living) can we fully absorb back into the swing of it.

Not to say we wont be doing some full on travelling having worked hard for 5 months. We are off to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays in the coming days, to experience the extreme beauty that is Whitehaven Beach.

But for a brief moment, we are resting up, enjoying the chilled vibes of Rainbow Beach, whilst being able to just decompress a little. It definitely does something to you, being isolated, spending all your days with a tight-knit group of individuals. When you re-join the masses back on mainland, its jarring, comforting and bizarre all at the same time. We suddenly have free time again, time stretching out ahead of us that is ours, that we can mould and plan as we wish. We are away from the stresses of working in a busy resort during peak season, finished with what was a more difficult phase of our 10 months in Australia.

Some evenings, after a packed day, I'd lay down to read or relax after work, and sink into a deep sleep. Then at 6am I'd groggily wake up for another 12 hour day, feeling a bit of a dread for what I knew would be another crazy day. It was draining, but also fulfilling and fun too. The team were such a great lot, all working hard together to get through our hectic days. We could all relate with missing our families and friends; island life isn't really conducive to messaging let alone skyping home. So that added to the homesickness I felt for the last month or so, which prompted us to hand in our notice a few weeks before we had originally planned to leave.

It feels like the right decision to have made, as I sit here feeling reinvigorated and back in touch with the creativity that has been absent for a while now.

Admittedly, our bank accounts aren't as bursting as we'd of hoped, nonetheless there a bit fuller. Enough to travel some more, relax a lot more and blog a hell of a lot more...

Now check out our best photographs from Fraser Island!

Thanks for reading!

Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!

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