Lead to blame

About Us

Hi,

My Name is Paul, I am 44 and I have a fantastic girlfriend called Shibby (Sheryl). I work in the recycling industry for a large scrap metal company in NSW Australia and Shibby is 46 and a social worker, looking after disadvantaged kids who need a bit of helping hand. We are both known for working hard, I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Sheryl and I met a little over 3 years ago through some friends on Facebook. At the time Sheryl was finishing off her second uni degree and I was working for myself while trying to get another job so that I could get a steady income.


I was going through a divorce and I lost my job and wasn't in any position where I could have my children stay with me overnight so things were hard. I had a few default notices handed to me from the bank but I managed to just scrape by and come out on top with them. I had a huge debt with child support and several smaller loans and credit cards.
I won't bore you with the details but in the end I basically came out the other side with a smile on my face, good health and best of all ZERO debt (other than my son who keeps going over his data usage each month and costing me a fortune, damn Telstra plans :-)  ).

I have children to previous relationship. I won't go into too many details with them other than Jackson (14) Ainsleigh (11) and Jocelyn (8) They are all beautiful children, They all have their own personalities that are very different from each other.
Shib also has children to another relationship Josh (25) Tanisha (22) and Zachariah (19) They are great kids also. They are achievers and are all working well towards their goals.
I won't write any more about them because of previous relationships etc.


When I met Shibby I had a small 13 foot dingy and I would take it out on weekends to go fishing. Shib wasn't into fishing at all. She had bad experiences in the past with tangled lines and rods getting snapped then thrown into the water. I showed her a different side. Eventually I wasn't allowed to go out on the boat on my own. I had created a "monster" she developed a love for the water the sea side and fishing. Our fishing adventures got bigger and better and because they did the little boat was all of a sudden too small. So the search began for a better boat, well not on purpose anyway. We would call into the boat shop on our way back from the coast and check out all the fishing boats but what happened next was totally unexpected,.... We bought a leasure craft. Oh dear then the money went out of my pocket at a quick rate. New life jackets for the kids, water skis, ski tubes. Then after a mishap, a new propeller, depth sounder and that led to more fishing gear because we could now see the fish. But the smiles on the kids faces is well worth is and I get a lot of enjoyment from seeing the people who come for a day out with us on the water have a fantastic time behind the boat or in it.

I have been an inland boy all of my life constantly skipping the coastal roads when I am on the road because I was bought up being told that the beach is for a holiday. I hated sand between my toes and the smell of the salt water. Now it's the opposite, I long for it. I have now had enough of the dust, the rarity of rain and the dream of owning my own block of dirt with a few acres to spare. I have changed my way of thinking about inland people. The area I live in isn't farming anymore. It is totally engulfed by people who are only here to take what they can from the land and leave. I am pro mining and I will probably always will be. But to see how many people travel into the area everyday not spend any money in the town and take away their wages to another town is down right disappointing. Not only that the companies that take from the land and when they do don't bother to put it back the way they found it.

The ones to blame.

So whats this blog about, well it's a story of a journey from the demands of keeping up with the Jones' to the independence of a free life. The best part is the journey has just begun. Our new journey is to buy a yacht and sail. Not so much sail the world but to just get out there and live a simpler life then see where Shib and I end up.

About a year ago I read a book called "South from Alaska" Written by a talented writer called Mike Litzow. I am not much of a reader mainly because I get impatient with reading and want to get to the good bits. The book describes Mike, his wife Alissa and their 10 month old boy Elias's journey from Alaska to Australia in a sailing boat. It goes into detail about the problems of sailing in general and then the added duties with a 10 month old on board. If you want to read more about their adventures have a look here http://thelifegalactic.blogspot.com.au/ . I don't even know how I came to purchase the book it may have been because a lot of Australians seem to be drawn to Alaska because it is an icy wilderness where Australia is a dusty one. Or it may just be because there is nothing else like it in the world.

After I read Mike's book I found another book called "Get Real, Get Gone" It is written by an Englishman, Rick Page and his Italian/ Slovenian girlfriend, Jasna Tuta. They go into a good amount of detail about how to sail on a budget and enjoy a sea gypsie lifestyle visiting new and different cultures and experiencing things that many people will never get to, or want to do. This was another book that I found hard to put down and have bent over many page corners for reference when the time comes. Rick* and Jasna are only to eager to share their experience with everyone and have some very good views on their experiences. If you want to read more about them have a look here http://www.sailingcalypso.com/

Finally the last one to blame is my second cousin Kevin. He introduced me to a sailing boat about 3 years ago after my grandmother passed away, I ran into Kevin at her funeral I had never really knew him that well. My kids and I went out on the water for the day with him and he showed me all the things that I knew how to do but have never been doing. The things like saving money. Over the years I had become a consumer. I was earning high income and it became easy for me to pay for something that I didn't need other than repair or make do with something that I did. I had become a prisoner of consumerism. I came from a childhood that I only had the things I needed not the flashy things I wanted, so I think that when I started to earn the "big bucks" I developed a feeling of comfort by buying the things I wanted whether they were any use to me or not. I bought a remote control car once for a little over a $1000 because I had always wanted one. So I bought it, I played with it for a day then sat it on a shelf and it was never driven by me again. Kevin made me realise again that I needed to watch the penny's so that the pounds could look after themselves. I have spent a lot of time with Kevin picking his brain, not only about sailing but saving money and making good choices when it comes to purchasing items that are needed. When I stay at Kevin's I wonder how many other people in the world besides Kevin and myself use soap and shampoo that you get when you stay at motels.

Everyone needs a plan. Mine is to buy a yacht in the next 3 years and then to start to fix it up in the next 3 after that  and learn to sail in the meantime. In 10 years after my youngest has become an adult I will be setting off on an adventure into the big blue. I have no idea after that. To be quite frank I don't care just so long as I have everything that I "need" to survive and that I get there soon.

I don't know when I will post anything up again but as I said it is a journey so until I can move onto the next step I have to keep doing the 9 to 5 and putting the pennies away. I will post up other stuff from time to time that won't relate so much to the final goal but it is all an important part of living through the Journey

Thanks for checking in,


Paul