RTW round up is a space dedicated to updating you guys on what we have been up to, thoughts over the month and life in general.


November … what an incredible, life changing month … we got married, spent a month in WA with family from home, Shaun signed a lease for space for his new business venture (proper grown up stuff) and I’ve pondered what comes next. And no … before you say it it’s not a baby!

We got hitched!

So … let’s start with the most exciting news ever.  We got married!  Family and friends as you will all know, Shaun and I have been together forever.  We’re talking 13 years kind of forever, almost half of my life! After a 3 year long engagement we finally decided to make it official whilst we are living in one spot for a little while.

We wanted to keep our wedding true to ourselves, doing the things we love with the people we love.  That being said we opted for a small ceremony here in Perth in the beautiful Yanchep National Park.  And as you can probably expect from us by now, it wasn’t your average wedding. Our boho-styled ceremony was in the heart of the gorgeous Boomerang Gorge surrounded by kookaburras and kangaroos.  Shaun surprised me with a live acoustic set by one of our favourite local artists, Ben Merito.  And of course, we camped … well ‘glamped’ for a couple of nights in Yanchep National Park. The day was absolutely perfect, despite the heat and the persistent flies.  It all went by far too quickly but it was everything we dreamed of.

There will be a dedicated blog post coming soon to fill you in on all the details once we have the professional photos.

Well needed R&R

A small group of 10 of our nearest and dearest flew to Perth from Guernsey, England and Scotland to celebrate our big day with us.  And of course travelling all the way to the other half of the world, you really want to pack as much in as you can.  That being said we had family and friends here for a duration of 10 days to a whole month. We don’t get to see them very often so we took the whole month off work to hang out, have fun, and for some well needed R&R.

It really has been the best month off! Usually it’s us having to travel back home for a month, usually spent trying to fit in seeing people after work and us spending our days driving around and around that tiny little island.  Seeing family and friends makes it totally worth it but honestly it’s rather dull when nobody takes time off and there is very little to do.  So having family here in Perth we really got to spend every minute hanging out, catching up and exploring.  It was amazing to have our family here showing them the places we have fallen in love with and why we have settled (temporarily) in Perth.

We finally got round to doing all the Perth tourist attractions that somehow we had not done over the last 3 years … the gorgeous Rottnest Island, Caversham Wildlife Park and Fremantle Prison to name a few.

We even got a road trip in down south with my mum and dad and auntie and uncle.  We met them half way through their journey in Albany and we spent our time between Albany, Bremer Bay, Porongurup National Park and of course bush camping at our favourite spot in Lane Pool Reserve, Dwellingup.

It really was incredibly sad to say goodbye this time. Somehow people leaving you is so much harder than you leaving them. And this time, we really do not know when we will see them next.  My mum and dad are embarking on their own adventure. They have quit work (taking a gap year, not retirement) and will be travelling around Europe for the next year or so in their motor home.  Follow their journey over on Guernsey Donkeys on Tour.  All we know is that we will not being going back to Guernsey for a few years. Going back 3 times in 2 and a half years has really taken it’s toll not only financially but also on us not being able to travel and live life on the road. We need to get back to adventures.

Back to work and new ventures

Returning to work after a month off was hard, really hard.  On my first week back I ended up having to on go a road trip, back down to Albany driving 1900kms over 3 days, leaving my newly-wed husband home alone. So our first week of marriage was spent apart, not the best start!

Much more exciting is Shaun’s new venture. He has been thinking about opening his own workshop for some time.  He really is incredibly talented and passionate about his work and needed a showcase to gauge the response.  Last month he had a booth at the West Coast Lowdown and had a really positive response with people wanting services straight away.  It was clear that there was a gap in the market and that he would need his own space to take on this venture, somewhere bigger than our garage.  He found space in a shared workshop in a perfect location just 10 minutes from our house. So watch this space with the launch of Blackstar Customs Fabrication workshop.

What’s next?

So no not a baby but perhaps as exciting …  we have decided to purchase a new 4WD.  We have had Delicas for the past 3 years and I feel that we have outgrown the space.  It’s a pain in the backside to live in long term and certainly not up for the challenge of a round the world trip (more details on this soon), it’s far too small.  We have been debating for some time around what the vehicle should be. We landed on a Toyota Hilux or a Landcruiser Troopy (Troop Carrier). We will be going to test drive a few vehicles  over the next few weeks and start saving to buy our new home on the road.

I think that’s about as much as I can fit in to one post.  More next month.  Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for photos and Insta-stories.

Signing out for the first time as … Mrs S.