Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: You guys are about to meet a truly inspirational Aussie couple, Jake and Ange. These guys couldn't be more down to earth, especially given how epic their achievements are. These accomplished artists have chosen the road less travelled in life, literally packing themselves and their two little girls up to travel the country and document some of its incredible rural stories and history through their art. As you'll hear, though, it's not just capturing history that's inspired this adventure. It's all about the type of life they want for themselves and their kids. Their vision is clear and in their own words, that's how they always achieve the big dreams they go for. So get comfy and let's kick this wisdom filled conversation off with Jake and Ange.
Hey, we're Kim and Roger and we're here to show couples how to get the best out of their relationship so they can start living their dream life together.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: We're a West Aussie couple who are living the life of our dreams. We don't entertain the word should, we think about the future as a field of possibilities and we let joy be our compass.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: We've taken the simple idea of working as a team and applied it to our marriage and it's been a game changer, allowing us to work out what truly lights us up in life and to go after it together.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: From living in snowy Japan to starting our own house flipping business, we've achieved some big dreams and most importantly, we feel fulfilled and are having the most fun we've ever had.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Hear conversations from inspiring couples, thoughts from relationship experts and tales from our own lives as we help you to gain the wisdom and skills you'll need to turn your relationship into a real team.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: These are relationship conversations for real people, by real people. So sit back, get comfortable in whatever tickles you pickle, and enjoy living the team life.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: You.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: How did you guys meet?
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Do you want to start or do you want me to?
[00:01:49] Speaker D: Yeah, basically I had a friend who randomly invited me to her friend's exhibition, which was Ange. So Andrew was doing a photography exhibition based on going around Australia and I looked at it, realized I couldn't make the exhibition, but she caught my eye on Facebook and I just walked her out. I was like, who is this and why are you friends with this person? And I spent a bit of time trying to work it out who she was probably like similar friend groups, but, yeah, that's kind of as far as it went. And then four months later, I was at the pub with a friend and so was ange. She actually rocked up with another friend of mine. And then straight away I was like, oh, you're the one I've been stalking for four months.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: I know a lot about you, Ange.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I know who you are.
But, yeah, no, it was pretty crazy. I was just like, oh, he's a bit of all right. Oh, my God, I love that.
So, yeah, we started talking and Jake was drawing on helmets at that stage and had started progressing into doing paintings. So we were kind of like, talking about exhibitions the whole time, weren't we? For a good, like 4 hours. And then the other people that were with us were like, we're getting out of here. You guys are boring.
We're not getting a word in. So we're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Exhibition, exhibition. And, yeah, the rest is history. Really.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Was that first conversation just super easy?
[00:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it was really funny. We had that first conversation and then we basically caught up for a date the next afternoon and literally haven't really spent a day apart since.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: Well, it was actually funny because you dropped me home and then I went to bed and I woke up and it was like 630. And I had a message from you. I was like, people don't call me back the next day ever.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: This guy's bit interesting.
[00:03:51] Speaker D: And it was 630 in the morning. I was like, yeah, most people don't know, don't get up that early, too. I was like, yeah, this is interesting.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Isn't that interesting how the rules go out the window when you're really interested in someone? We put all of those social norms and constructs up. Like, I won't contact them before, especially not before 630.
Really creepy. Super keen. But when you really like someone, you get that sense. And it's a common thread that we're hearing from other couples, is that sense straight away, you know what, I'm safe to do that they're going to be okay with that, because I can feel that there's something there and it's just going to be accepted. It's not going to be judged in any sort of weird way. And in fact, I don't even have to worry about that.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think it was easier back in the day. We've been together for probably over ten years now, but back in the day, you've got nothing really to lose. You're young and you're like, oh, this person didn't work out. Onto the next one.
[00:04:50] Speaker D: There's no online receipts.
[00:04:52] Speaker C: Yeah, there's no online receipts. As Jake would say.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: I love that. So what do you think it was? I guess the easy answer would be that you're both artists in your own right, and you bonded over that. But was there anything else? Was there that spark between you in that 4 hours of conversation? And Kim talked about the safety, then being able to hold the space with each other. What was it about each other that attracted you?
[00:05:19] Speaker C: Well, yeah, I think it was really funny because we had this really old farm, like, down in quindanning, and it's like an old busted up house, and there's mice everywhere and flies and sometimes can get really hot or really cold. And I like to take people down there as little tests, see?
And, yeah, Jake passed the test with flying colors. He didn't mind eating with flies around him.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: I think I even jumped in the water tank to clean it or something.
[00:05:51] Speaker C: I wasn't too impressed with his wood chopping abilities back then.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: You can grow those skills, right, Anne? You're like, yeah, that's a grower. That's fine.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: If I can't grow them, my dad certainly could.
And then the next test was, I took him down to the surf club, and I was pretty fit back then. I was doing a lot of training, and I took him to the hardest workout that the surf club had to offer, and he did it and passed the next test.
[00:06:20] Speaker D: And I think I let a Siggy beforehand as well.
I'll smoke this.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: So a little bit of competitiveness early on.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: And then I took him to all of my friends, and we've got some really weird friends spread between us, and he'd just get along with everyone. So it was just perfect. It was easy, and it was fun, and, yeah, we just were so young. You kind of, like, grow together as well. You might be a bit different back then, but you're so influential and malleable back then, I guess. So you kind of grow into a couple together, which I think has been really cool.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: What about you, Jake? Were you also testing ange?
[00:07:05] Speaker D: Yeah. Just whether you'd run off just a.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Slightly lower bar sticking around.
[00:07:13] Speaker D: Well, I don't know. I think I was literally working on a wharf, and I was pretty much surrounded by degenerates. Not wharfies were, but I wasn't really doing much with myself. I was painting on helmets. And then she just seemed like she was kind of from, I don't know, almost another planet, just, like, had her stuff together.
She was actually living her passion, like, as a photographer. She was running her own business, and I didn't even think that was even possible.
I thought I was literally going to be painting helmets for the rest of my life.
So I think everything about her aligned and I was just. This, all this is kind of like somebody I want to spend my future with.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: I think a really big thing for both of us is like, you know when you sit at someone else's family dinner table and you're like, this feels like my, you know, like meeting Ben and Courtney and all Jake's family. I was like, this feels like. And like to have that feeling, it was really special because we both value family as one of our highest values. So to feel at home in Jake's family was really important for me, too. I could see that he came from a good, wholesome bunch of people.
[00:08:31] Speaker D: Yeah, that was the test, actually. I got grandma ran. Yeah.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: And grandma's cutthroat.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:39] Speaker D: Good at chopping wood and. Yeah. Cooked dinner and then. Yeah, you were just getting on like a house on fire, really. I probably just wanted it to hear what they would say as well. Yeah. And they obviously loved her, so, yeah, I guess that was my only test. How much does grandma like you and mum?
[00:09:00] Speaker C: I love grandma, so it was good.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: It's funny, isn't it, though? What you're describing was obviously a really serious attraction between the two of you, but yet we still do these little things where we're like, let's see what everyone else thinks. Let's see how they go here and whether I can trip them up here and just these. It's kind of that part of us that is so self protective, you kind of have to get through that bit.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: It can't be this great, can it?
[00:09:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
How could we destroy this stuff?
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Or what could go wrong? That anxious part of us always trying to protect ourselves. And then when you eventually realize, even if stuff does go wrong, it's going to be okay because actually this person's going to work through it with me. I'm actually going to be safer with them than without them if something goes wrong. Even if it's caused by them.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Yeah, no, 100%.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: So how did you go from painting helmets to then painting big, amazing, beautiful murals on walls with. And sounds like you've had your stuff sorted out since you met. But how was that progression in Jake that you saw over the last ten years and his art?
Because, Jake, you started art quite late in life.
[00:10:23] Speaker D: Yeah, I started when I was about 25.
That was literally my first painting was on a helmet on the wharf. And, yeah, I'd bring a helmet every day back from wharf. What do you think of this? And what do you think of that? Like, Daniel chick the footy player. I'd get him to, like, missing finger, I'd get him to cover it. I'd trace his finger on the helmet, like, what do you think about that? And, yeah, I just always progressed from that. And then I started, well, I think.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: The biggest thing for me is, I always like to say with people that are going to go and start their own business, is it's like jumping off a.
Like, you have no idea what's going to happen. But it's always really frightening to kind of take that leap of faith and have a go. But Jake kind of had it hand delivered to him because he got a big payout from the wharf. They gave him a redundancy, and it was like, a big payout. It was, like, ridiculous. And we're like, well, you've got this money.
Why don't you have a go at being a full time artist and just see where it takes you? And once that money is dried up, if you're making a living as an artist, you keep going. Or if you don't, then you go back and find another.
Was like. It was an easy answer, really. And then the biggest thing that I know about Jake and I see in Jake is his passion for art. Like, there's just no one with the same passion he is. Just every day, every moment of his day, just painting, drawing, obsessing about.
It's just. It's just natural that he was just going to keep getting better and better. I like to call him the human printer now, because he can just get.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: So much art out.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Yeah. I can't even believe how much he's improved from those days of the wharf, drawing on a hard hat. But he's done it himself. He's never had any tuition, lessons, anything. It's just a matter of him doing it day after day and loving it and being passionate about it and, yeah, I think the only thing that I've provided is maybe just some guidance or structure. And I was lucky that I kind of had a mentor and worked in photography studios, so I had people to teach me that. So it was just a matter of kind of passing that on and applying it to art. So it just worked seamlessly, really, didn't it? You had the passion, and we just kind of were able to navigate it together, bounce ideas off each other.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: It's a huge shift for you, Jake. So what was it about your relationship with ange that you felt you could go and do this because you've changed your life? We spoke to cold ice creamery. The crew from there the other day, and Caitlin came home one day from hairdressing and said, I don't want to hairdress anymore. I want to do ice. So, you know, Kim and I were living in Melbourne and I came home one day and said, I don't want to do my nine to five anymore. I want to go live in the ski fields of Japan. And so for you, Jake, what was it about, ange, or your situation where you felt you could say, let's do something different?
[00:13:40] Speaker D: It all happened on the wharf, really. Basically, I created this position on the job where I could just get paid to paint. Like, they used to hire me a little van and just drop helmets off every day. And they'd give me, like, the supervisors will put me as, like, a clerk position so that I wouldn't even have to get out the van. I just have to write down six weight. Like, for example, they'd drop a big structure onto a platform and that had like, a weight on it. So I'd have to say 6.5 ton, for instance. Anyway, all I had to do in a twelve hour shift was write 6.5 ton, but I'd have to be outside. They made it so I didn't even have to be outside that radio inside and just say, write that down. So it was just so I could paint.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: That's how much people enjoyed the art.
[00:14:31] Speaker D: That was it. And then I had this epiphany. I was, like, driving over the bridge and I was like, I'm probably going to get sacked, but there's just no way I can do anything else in my life now. It just feels like this is what I'm meant to do. And I just remember driving over and the back of the car was full of all these helmets, and I was like, nah, this is it. So it's all I want to do now.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: I kind of love what Ange said about jumping off a cliff for a business, right. And for that part of life, I feel like, holds true of a business or any dream that you sort of have, whether it's moving somewhere or whatever it looks like, I found, and I think Roger as well, when we've discussed it, that gets easier the more you do it. Have you guys found that as and.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: Every time, every time that we've done it, we've been rewarded for doing it? So now you're more inclined to do it more often for the thrill.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: And your most recent cliff jump was the decision, I'm guessing, then, to travel around the state with your two little brommies, your little girls.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Do you want to tell everybody what that's about?
[00:15:41] Speaker C: Yeah. So I initially did a trip around Australia when I was younger, and I just feel like I missed so much. Like, I drove through a town and you wouldn't really know anything about the town, and then it's gone. It's like five minutes later. And then in that town, there might be a hundred stories or know, like, a beautiful landscape. And you would never know that until you could actually infiltrate that community. So we're kind of thinking, how can we travel around Australia but meet the iconic characters that are in the bush and experience their events and experience their culture and the little hidden gems that you would never normally find? So we decided to follow the event trail because it's like the town puts on a show for everyone coming. It's like their one big day of the year, and then all of the people from that town will come to that event and you'll have an opportunity to meet these people. So, yeah, we basically decided to try and follow an event trail and capture the people with photography, the history, with the art, and just try and meet all the locals and hear their stories. And that's what this trip is about. We're going to try and get to as many iconic events as we can, but it's been difficult trying to line them all up. So we're just trying to get to as many as we can and bring the kids in tow so they get to experience it before they have to start school, and we get locked down with sports and all the rest of.
So that's the venture that we're doing at the moment.
[00:17:17] Speaker D: And at the same time, we're basically leaving our own trail. So we're creating our own mural. So it's in the form of a big mural, and then Angie's photography and the stories will kind of go all.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Along that it's such an incredible idea. As you say, there's like two massive parts to it. And I'm going to talk about the trail in a minute because that's just unreal. But the first bit you said was actually a want from you guys to meet these people. And actually, really, I guess I liken it. I've lived overseas until I learnt the language. Where I lived in Switzerland, you didn't really get to see the community. People weren't really themselves, that you had pigeon conversations and that was fine. But once you learned the language and they let you in, that's a whole nother experience.
What's behind that? What's the driver for you guys in the purpose behind that. Why do you value that so highly?
[00:18:15] Speaker C: It's just your experience in that place is memorable. And that contact that you have, you have that for life. So once you've met these characters, you really get to hear their whole life story. And just to be able to sit there with someone who's really different and listen to what they've been through in their life, it's just so grounding, and it's so rewarding in so many ways.
And the fact that they invite you into their home and they show you their favorite scenes around the place and their favorite experiences, and you start to hear some of the stories. It's like, it's better than any movie you could ever watch or better than any book you could ever read, because it's firsthand. And it's just a really special experience that we've both absolutely love.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: And is the stories what you're trying to capture with the artwork and then obviously, the recording of the artwork with the photography, is that what you want others to share as well?
[00:19:15] Speaker D: Yeah, well, I think for me, I'm drawn to, I guess it was always portraits, which means that I'm fascinated with people. And I think if you, for example, when these towns put on a big show, so say it's like the cool and bush races, literally, it's kind of defining that whole identity of that region. Because all these people came from the maybe land or races, 100 years, for example, with landor races in that whole region, they didn't really have any society meet up or anything like that. So people would just drive or walk.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: They used to walk back in the day, so they'd walk hundreds of kilometers to get to this one event a year, once a year. And it also with their horses in tow, their kids in tow, just carrying everything that they could possibly need for the week to get there, get back. And it was their one day year where they could dress up and talk to other station owners and the kids could play and meet. So it was just a huge event for them. And to see how that's grown and changed over the years is pretty amazing to see.
[00:20:24] Speaker D: Well, yeah, because that's also where most people meet their wives as well.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:29] Speaker D: And it all started off like a vet who had the fastest horse. So if you can kind of understand that this one event probably shaped that whole region, and if you're doing, like, a mural of that event, you're kind of capturing almost like, the solar spirit of all the people around you within that township. So that, to me, is kind of like the ultimate payoff. When you can share somebody's story, then you see this big kind of, I don't know, this big shift or this big kind of embrace of their identity. That's what I love the most. So you're kind of capturing and sharing identity of the regions, and for me, that's like the ultimate kind of goal.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Are you describing, sorry, Jake. That it feels like when you do the artwork, you're holding a mirror up for them as well, that they recognize in themselves the identity that they've built?
[00:21:20] Speaker D: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That's what it is, really. So that the closer you can get to that, the better everyone feels. And when they kind of solidify their identity, they become proud or prouder.
[00:21:32] Speaker C: Well, it's really exciting how happy it makes people. I think that's one of the biggest rewards, is to see someone as talented as Jake painting their portrait up on the just. They come every single day, and they come bearing gifts. They come bearing emu eggs. I leave, like, sometimes planet bits of fruit, hot beers.
[00:21:57] Speaker D: Sometimes I rock up in sight, and I open the esky, and someone's filled it with a six pack.
[00:22:02] Speaker C: We had Frank bringing us dried apples.
[00:22:04] Speaker D: He was, every day.
[00:22:06] Speaker C: Where was he from?
[00:22:07] Speaker D: Donny Brook.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Donny Brook. He was bringing dried apples.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Naturally with the apples.
[00:22:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:11] Speaker D: At least bring you stuff. It's just the funniest thing ever. And I'll take photos and I'll collect what are the best little offerings. Sometimes pizza was a good one. Sometimes I left, like, a fruit basket out once, and they filled it up full of fruit and capes.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Isn't that the beautiful old school way of nurturing, though? You would nurture someone with food or supplies, and that's so beautiful that they value so highly what you're doing, that they want to nurture you in return and say thank you. It means that much to me.
[00:22:41] Speaker D: And it helps that I look homeless as well.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Strategic.
[00:22:46] Speaker C: Usually a bit dinky by the end of the day. So they feel sorry for him.
[00:22:50] Speaker D: They give me a bar of soap.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: So what I will say is, guys, that you're definitely taking the road less traveled here, doing what you're doing. You haven't settled down, or you don't seem to be settling down. In fact, you seem to be roaming.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: You mean white picket fence, like, white.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Picket fence house, like, you know, where the kids are going to know, your friends with the neighbors.
What sort of challenges is that bringing?
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I think, yeah, Jake and I were talking about it before. You kind of lose your routine, and you definitely lose your routine, and everything's always just a mess because you're moving from one place to another. So it's really hard to stay organized and stay on top of your life. So you kind of have to let go a little bit.
But in saying that, the loss of schedule and I used to love going to the gym with everyone, and then you'd have coffee after. You just kind of have to find replacements. So we might exercise via those online apps now, and we'll go to coffee at the local coffee shop. So it's about embracing change and finding out what you like about those things and then knowing that you've got a house to come back to and you can bring all of the things that you've learned back into your life. I find, like, when you're feeling stressed about whatever's happening, you know that you're learning and changing and growing. And I think that's the biggest driver for us, is that we're growing and changing in such a fast way because you're out there and you're isolated and you're on your own sometimes and there's a lot of room to think and reflect.
So, yeah, it's chaos. Absolute chaos, especially with two kids in tow. But, yeah, I think the rewards outweigh the challenges, for sure.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: Do you guys find that you, because what you've described for a lot of couples would cause a lot of stress in the relationship. You're exactly right. The loss of routine and the chaos. I mean, most people, day to day in their super routine driven lives feel like they're in some state of chaos, especially with little kids, your kids ages.
Do you guys deliberately, like you've said very deliberately there, that you've decided to embrace this as a time of change and think about it that way and appreciate what's coming from that harder work? Do you guys talk about that really openly together? And do you find that if you do that, that's what helps you to stay on the same page, even when you've got these additional stresses coming in?
[00:25:33] Speaker C: Well, yeah. Jake and I are big believers in the vision board.
So before we left, we made it very clear about what our ambitions were for this trip and what our goals were. And we had, like, a big a two poster with visual images of what we kind of wanted the trip to be for us.
And it's like an evolving beast.
Once you've kind of written down those vision boards, like, 100% of the time, we would achieve them, which was just so strange because the visions were so extreme. But as soon as we had it up on the wall. It was like there was no other option other than to achieve that. And so we know what the power of the vision board is.
We haven't written one recently and we're in a little bit of a shambles at the moment with scheduling and everything. But, yeah, we just know that we'll just come back to creating that vision board again and getting our goals aligned and just having it up there and knowing that whatever's going on is because we're heading towards that vision or that goal.
[00:26:41] Speaker D: Yeah, that's right. And we often debrief. So it's like, oh, I didn't know that. It's going to be 43 degrees today and I'm going to be painting and I'm deadline.
How are we going to work it out with the kids and stuff? So there's always constant things like that. But I find, like Anne said, if you got a vision, clear vision, you're always going to hit these roadblocks. So as long as you can adapt to the change and kind of navigate, just jump through the hoops, then you're going to be all right. I think that can be a downside of having structure. It's like, but dinner was supposed to be, now what are we going to do? Life's over, or we're supposed to get there at eight or whatever. So if you can kind of learn to just roll with the punches, then I think that's really the only way you can do it.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: But you need that vision to be able to roll with the punches. Right. And it's so funny because there might be a bit of a misconception out there that I guess artists are a bit airy fairy and this. But most businesses struggle to come up with a clear vision of the future and work towards it. And they get so bogged down in the bureaucracy in the process and making improvements to things when they might not even be heading in the right direction.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: I think that's the beautiful thing you just described, structure versus purpose. And if you. A lot of, like Roger's saying, people get caught so heavily on making sure that they've got a great organizer that they've bought at the start of the year and that there's going to be structure around everything. And when they hit the road bumps, which are absolutely, as you say, inevitable, it's just impossible to imagine life without them. They come all the time. If you know where you're heading in the distance, you just pivot. Like you said, andrew, you just pivot and change and move around or over or under, whatever you have to do. But if you're structure focused and not distance focused, when the road bumps hit, your structure is gone and you've got nothing else to refer mean, you guys are literally preaching what we try to teach here. So, the vision. Yeah, it's amazing to hear you sharing it.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: The funny thing is, our life looks a little bit like one of Jake's art pieces.
No one's learned how to do it. It's a big mess. There's shit going everywhere. But in the end, it's a masterpiece.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: I love that. The fact that you can say that is such a beautiful thing. And I think Roger and I feel the same way about our own lives.
Very proud to say that. We do think it's a bit of a masterpiece. Fortunately, both of us are crap it up, so don't have the exact same analogy.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: But you've got AI for that. Now.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Please draw a stick figure for me.
Still too advanced. Yeah, no, absolutely. It's an amazing thing when you know that you're heading in the vision and the belief that you have in that and the fact that you say, as well, something we've been talking about, when you 100% believe in that vision, it will come true. And I think people talk a lot about manifesting in the life coaching space in a way that isn't actually true. They talk about manifesting as if things magically happen. When you think about them, there is magic to it, but it takes a lot of hard work. And the reality is, if you focus on the vision, it becomes part of talking about your identity. Visions can become part of your identity, and so you live into making that vision come true because that's who you already see yourself as the ultimate vision. Well, we're the couple that traveled around the state and captured all of this history and met these incredible people. There's no other option. That's who I am. We do what I do.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: As you were saying before, ange, we set challenges, or we do difficult things, and things seem to go our way. That's not coincidence. It's because, you know, you've got that belief that if you go out there and put yourself out there, good things will happen. And the proof doesn't come from luck. The proof comes from actually a history of doing brave things and them having come good for you. And when the bad things happen, it's like, well, that's just a bump on the road.
[00:30:42] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. And we're lucky that Australia is a big circle. So once we get halfway around, we know that there's no pulling out because we've got to continue the rest of the lap.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: So you're doing the full country, not the state. For some reason, in my head, I have the state.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: Yeah. So we've done the state and we feel like we've missed a lot in the state anyway. But, yeah, we're going to try and continue across to the other side now.
[00:31:07] Speaker D: It's kind of like, well, I mean, the way I describe it is we're capturing australian history and culture and that's everywhere. And I don't think. Same deal with the structure. We don't have to shoot ourselves in the foot because we're not doing a perfect lap.
And I want this leaving work on the road. I pretty much want it to go forever as an option. We can always have a studio here or there, but I always just want to be going. So I don't think there's, like, a real deadline in sight. And we'll probably be like a bad magna doodle draw.
[00:31:42] Speaker C: Just like, close your eyes and throw like, a pin into the map. That's where we're going next.
[00:31:48] Speaker A: So, actually, this project is going to be potentially part of your life. Ongoing.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: Yeah, I definitely think that we're always going to be traveling because we're both portrait artists. Portrait photographer, portrait artists. So, yeah, it's like you've got to leave Wa to find those characters. I don't think that will ever end, but, yeah, it's just a matter of kind of figuring out what happens with schooling and all the rest of it. So, yeah, it's kind of ever changing.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Beast on that point. I'm sure our listeners would love to hear a bit more about your two girls and what it's like living on the road. How are they handling it? How have you explained it to them and what are the sort of values you're hoping they pick up on this journey with you?
[00:32:36] Speaker C: Yeah, so the girls basically were well traveled. I think it's a funny story. We actually did the Gib river road while I was 36 weeks pregnant.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: We've done that as a kid. I did that with my brother having diarrhea and vomiting for a while. So the bumps, I know they're not friendly to a person who's a bit vulnerable.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: We had to buy a wheelchair cushion, and I sat on the wheelchair cushion as we were bobbing up and, yeah, it was really weird. I had Sadie and as a baby I used to go and do weddings down south and she would literally sleep from Perth to Denmark, like, the entire way. It was like, as soon as we put her in the car, she'd fall asleep. It was just so weird.
[00:33:24] Speaker D: We trained her.
[00:33:25] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. But we put that down to the gib river road. I think she knew the motion. Yeah. So they both were in the car from a very early age, so they're really good with travel.
It was a bit of a transition getting them into the caravan, but they've got their own little bunk beds, so they really love that. And they love the fact that mum and dad were kind of, like, in the same room.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:33:52] Speaker C: Even when people offered for us to stay in the house, we're like, no, we're happy in the caravan. Everything's in one place.
[00:33:59] Speaker D: They love it more. They love their own little bed because to me, it's like having your own little cubby house.
And it's sweet because it zips up so we can just go, bye bye.
[00:34:11] Speaker C: Anna loves it because she can run outside of the caravan and go and find all the candy from all the old people. So she goes from caravan to caravan, shakes down for sugar shakes people upside down.
[00:34:23] Speaker D: All right.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: And they would all have a good lolly canister. There's no one in that generation that doesn't have some sort of canister for lollies.
[00:34:31] Speaker C: And there's no asking the parents whether they can have it or not. They're just like, we want to make friends with these kids.
[00:34:36] Speaker D: Drive us crazy.
[00:34:41] Speaker C: And so, yeah, they've absolutely loved the freedom.
Sadie has just come alive since we've been on this trip. She was a bit of a nervous little bub to begin with.
[00:34:51] Speaker D: Well, growing up with during COVID and also she was a neonates ward when.
[00:34:56] Speaker C: She was a baby. Yeah.
[00:34:57] Speaker D: And then just growing up with masks, everyone wearing masks, that was. I think the difference was Fianna. So she was always timid, but being bit like.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: And her immune system was really bad before we left. She'd always be sick. So, yeah. To see her progress from where before we left to now has been one of the most rewarding things as a parent, because she just loves to meet new people. Now she's confident climbing up trees, out in the dirt, just having an absolute ball, which is really cool.
And Sienna's always been a bit of a bush kid, so it wasn't too much of a transition for her. But the kids have just loved it, taken it in their stride. They're still so young and impressionable, so, yeah, they haven't had an issue with it at all, which has been easy for us.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: What do you reckon is the best thing kids take out of the bush.
[00:35:56] Speaker C: A better immune system.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: I mean, I shouldn't laugh. We have no immunity in our kid, and it is a real thing.
It's just crappy when they don't have.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: A good exposure to the world, exposure of the immune system, exposure to community. As you said, if your little one was growing up with people in mass all the time, and then she goes from town to town and sees people just coming up, embracing daddy, embracing mummy, and so quickly in such a short time, there's so much love and compassion there. What a good life lesson for her. And that's maybe why you see that growth.
[00:36:31] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really weird. I kind of relate it to training an animal. If that sounds really weird, I understand. But it's like where you grew up around horses, and the best horse that you would ever get is the horse that has gone to the racetrack. And then it's like it's gone and done cross country eventing, and it's gone in the rivers and now it's mustering cattle. And if you ever got the tail end of this horse's life, that would be the best horse you could ever own. Because it doesn't get scared of anything. It's confident, it's resilient.
The more that you can expose your kids to, I believe, the more capable they are to be able to handle any situation that's thrown at them later.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: I love that. I think that's so true. It's such a beautiful thing to give your kids that exposure and build their trust in humanity and just their general trust in the world. We live in such an anxious space. Being an anxious person, I find the idea of a child feeling safe with strangers, feeling safe to explore new people in new places.
Such an incredible idea. And I think that for all children, having that opportunity to go out in the bush would be absolutely amazing. We saw a lot of change in Covid. People embracing, traveling more around our own country. Unfortunately, I feel like that's flipped back again. People, as soon as Covid lifted, they were like, right, where's the plane? How do we get overseas? But you just spent a fortune on caravans, guys, what are you doing?
[00:38:05] Speaker C: We're hoping to cash in on that, actually. We're like, yeah, after Covid, everyone's going to be selling their caravans and you're going to get a really.
[00:38:15] Speaker D: Oh, I think people are selling them now.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the other thing. You didn't factor in people's disorganization. Right. I want to sell it, but that's not going to happen today. It'll probably happen twelve months from now, definitely. So this is obviously an epic journey, as you guys have described. Maybe one that's a lifelong in and out. I love what you said about it, not having to have some particular rule around it. I think that's such an awesome lesson in life to understand that the journey can look a million different ways. And once you take away those, they're really self imposed. They're made up ideas of how something should be. You just get about doing what you want to do and just following and chasing down that vision.
I know this is a big one you're still working on. Is there anything else that's big, that's in your minds at the moment that you've been talking about? That's a big vision for you guys in the future?
[00:39:07] Speaker C: We did have one crazy idea, but we're not quite sure about it just yet. We wanted to live in Italy.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: You speak Italian, don't you, Jake? Ben speaks.
[00:39:16] Speaker C: Yeah, Jake speaks fluent Italian. He grew up in Italy. It's a pretty far away idea, and we probably need a lot of content and savings to be able to paint an exhibition. But it'd be good to just hold up in some kind of villa somewhere in the middle of the country in Italy and paint an exhibition and bring it back to Australia.
Pretty cool, kids.
[00:39:41] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, I mean, what's the same sort of thing? Like, if we're capturing identities and cultures and stuff in Australia, we can keep it anywhere.
[00:39:49] Speaker C: We've got to pull it off here.
Oh, okay.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: So sort of mimic that over there.
[00:39:55] Speaker D: And capture the know, carry on that whole thing of the historical murals and capturing the identities and stuff and sharing those stories. We could apply that anywhere, really.
[00:40:07] Speaker C: Or another way of doing it is Jake could just paint some original art.
[00:40:11] Speaker D: Pieces, which I never have time for.
[00:40:14] Speaker C: Yeah. So it might be.
[00:40:15] Speaker D: Least I'll be locked up.
[00:40:16] Speaker C: Yeah. We won't know anyone in.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: Think it's so amazing. Italy is such an incredible country. It's one of those places that just feeds all of your senses. My sister's italian in law. She's from Rome. My sister in law is italian, from Rome and also an artist. Francesca.
And we went, obviously, over for the wedding. Been a few times. It just is like. It's just a joy for your soul to be in Italy. And it does have so much history in it. I was actually watching a docko the other day that was saying that people talk about the okinawan centenarians. So this dense population of people over 100 years old, is actually also a town in Italy with the same densely populated group of centenarians.
And it's massive to think that these humans have more than 100 years of history living in them. I can imagine that that would be an epic place to do a project like that.
[00:41:13] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. And it would be awesome for the kids to be able to go there and learn another language.
[00:41:19] Speaker D: Well, Sienna was named after the town.
[00:41:22] Speaker C: How gorgeous.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think, again, that's one of those things where you've got this beautiful vision of the future for rolling stills and the Rolling Stills art series, and then you're like, well, why just keep this to Australia? We can go anywhere in the world and you're not thinking, they're too confined, but we can't change the girls'schools, or we can't do this. And the other, because you know that no matter where you go, with two loving parents, with people who are very passionate about what they do and are embracing community, I mean, what a better way for kids to grow up.
[00:41:59] Speaker C: Yeah. We would like to come back as our kids.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: Amen.
They've got it so good. Like sympathetic parents. Lots of all of that sort of positive stuff that we were grommets. You were just sent out and wished good luck on a good day.
[00:42:17] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
Definitely. No, they've had it pretty good so far. Touchwood.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
That's absolutely amazing chatting to you guys. I think today, for me, hearing about your vision board especially, and how that keeps you on track, that's really stood out for me because you guys are, as you said, fulfilling some pretty intense, epic dreams. And I think for our listeners, hearing that, that's a key part of your process for managing to agree together and then stay on track despite all the things that throw you off in different directions is really amazing. And obviously, underneath all of that, the very clear purpose that you guys have around the way you live your lives and the people that you are, the identity you have yourselves and what you value in life, it's just been a really lovely chat around how clear you guys are about who you are, what you want in life, and how you're going to go about that. So I really, really appreciate your honesty today and your openness with us.
[00:43:21] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having us. It's been awesome chatting to you.
[00:43:24] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks. Really appreciate. We'll be back in Perth in December. We should catch up.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: We'd love that, for sure. Let's get together and have a beer.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: If anyone knows how to get visas for Italy, can you post it below?
[00:43:41] Speaker A: I love that we've also been recently talking about a bit of a big dream because we were living in Japan when our daughter was diagnosed autistic, and I just never flew back to start supporting her.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: We lived in a little house in the bottom of a beautiful hill and a ski field. So we'd get up and walk the ski field every day and walk the snow.
[00:44:03] Speaker C: Similar sort of thing.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: Like, we had a dream for our kid to be raised because of yelling up. I wanted a small community where everyone knew each other and everyone was outdoors focused. That was really at the core. I always knew I wanted our kids to have that, but obviously life throws you something else. So we redreamed. But, yeah, we've just the other day said to Roger, maybe for high school we could go live in Canada and get back to that snow.
[00:44:28] Speaker C: Good.
[00:44:29] Speaker A: Yeah, they've got a massive outdoors lifestyle there, so we'll see. Yeah, big vision.
[00:44:35] Speaker C: Can't do it.
[00:44:36] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: Why not? That's how much of it is now. It's like, why can't we do that? And I think people who would see you on your socials, they'd so just go, oh, I wish we could do, oh, but we're not artists. It's like, who cares? It doesn't matter. Like, Kim and I aren't artists and we moved to Japan. Kim and I aren't like journalists presenters and we're doing a podcast on know if you've got a dream, if you feel like there's something you can do, just get after. Right?
[00:45:05] Speaker D: Oh, that's it. And I think people really do discover themselves when they do take that leap of faith, because now you are in your own. Well, you might be with a family, but it's kind of all on you. You're testing yourself and your character and then you realize, yeah, I can do this.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Yes, I think that is such a good point. You discover who you are and what you're made of when you really put yourself out there. Otherwise, you're just living in the same you you've always been. How can you grow if you don't change anything? It's just not possible.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: You're amazing. You've just spent quality time on your relationship.
[00:45:43] Speaker A: Feel like you're on a roll. If you want more living the team life relationship insights and conversations, head over to Kim Androj.com where you can find all the show notes as well as tons of other relationship goodies.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: And if you like today's episode, please hit subscribe or let another couple know where they can find us. It'll make them happy, and it'll make us really happy.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Until next time, keep on living the team life.
