Travel Australia Podcast by The Feel Good Family

The Road Less Travelled: A Fearless Life with Lyn & Peter Guerin

• Paul Guerin & Katie Guerin • Season 2025 • Episode 6

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This week on the Travel Australia Podcast, we’re diving into an extraordinary tale of love, courage, and boundless adventure. Join us for a heartfelt and inspiring conversation with Paul’s parents, Lyn and Peter Guerin, as they share their remarkable journey through 55 years of marriage and a life lived boldly.

From falling in love and marrying during Peter’s conscription to the Vietnam War, to raising seven children under ten(yes, you read that right!) while embracing a lifestyle far from conventional—Lyn and Peter’s story is a testament to the power of love, faith, and fearless decision-making.

You’ll hear how they made the bold move to the Gold Coast despite all odds, and how in 1988, they packed up their lives and took their family of 9 on a six-month road trip across the USA in a dusty old Winnebago—well before #vanlife was even a thing!

Now in their 70s, this dynamic duo continues to embrace life on the road, living part-time in their Jayco caravan and adventuring overseas whenever they can. Their story will make you laugh, reflect, and maybe even rethink what’s possible for your own life journey.

Whether you’re caravanning, camping, or simply dreaming of a life less ordinary—this episode is not to be missed. 💛

  Grab a copy of the Guerin Family Book Family Business: The Business of Being Family here - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1452525773?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_au

 And as a massive thank you to our podcast listeners we’re offering a 25% off discount code on our best-selling eBook bundle! That’s over $200 in value, for only $60! Use discount code PODCAST25 to take advantage of this awesome offer -https://shopthefeelgoodfamily.com/products/eofy-e-book-bundle

This episode is proudly brought to you by our friends at Nakie – the world’s first 100% recycled hammock! Take advantage of our 15% Discount - https://www.nakie.co/?ref=feelgood (ENTER FEELGOOD DISCOUNT CODE).

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Travel Australia podcast. We are Paul, Katie and Jasper from the Feel Good family. Join us as we explore this great country, Australia, its people, places and cultures.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it's the Travel Australia podcast, where we share the latest in RV industry news road trip travel, caravanning and camping, product reviews, guest interviews and so much more. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 1:

This week we have an extra special episode with special guests Lynne and Peter Guerin. Their story is not only going to inspire you, but it will inspire your journey ahead.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, pauline. Now look, this is one episode I've been looking for for a very long time, and, in fact, we did tease this a couple of weeks ago on our podcast, when we were talking about amazing people with amazing stories, and Lynn and Peter are two of those very inspirational people. And not only are they your beautiful mum and dad, paul, of course, they're my parents-in-law and they are, in fact, sitting opposite me, so we have to be really nice and give them all the compliments in the world, but they've made plenty of cameos across our content over the years, haven't they, paulie?

Speaker 1:

They sure have. Of course, you know, aka Papa Feel Good and Granny Feel Good, as you guys are getting known around the traps now on our YouTube and TV show. But, guys, 55 years, you've just celebrated your wedding anniversary and the story started a little bit before that. Let's go back to the beginning. Mum, we'll start with you. Where did it all start?

Speaker 3:

Okay, it started in a ballroom studio in the heart of Brisbane City. I danced as a child, right through, but I hadn't done ballroom dancing, and so I discovered this amazing studio that said walk up, dance down. I talked to my parents actually into taking me back after work, and that's where it all started. That's where I met.

Speaker 1:

Peter and Dad, you just happened to be in Brizzy. You're a Melbourne lad, so what were you doing in Brizzy?

Speaker 4:

That's right. Well, I was being conscripted into the army and was to go overseas to Vietnam for the 12-month duty over there, and before I went I had to come up here to Enoggera in Queensland and then out to Cronunga, cronunga, cronungra.

Speaker 1:

Cronungra.

Speaker 4:

You know where it is? It's right near Katila, anyway. Another story Anyway. So, yes, went out to Kanungra for three weeks jungle training before I had to go over to Vietnam, and then in that time I also went ballroom dancing and that's where I met the true love of my life.

Speaker 1:

Wow, okay, but I mean, was it love at first sight? I mean there was obviously a lot of men there and a lot of women there. How did you guys line up? Yeah?

Speaker 3:

Okay, so that's the story. Girls and boys. It was mainly young people and we were very young, and all the girls on one side of the room and all the boys on the other, and so then you're partnered with the person directly opposite you, but there was this very handsome young man that was opposite down the line a little bit, but he kept moving so that he lined up with me, and so we ended up dancing together Amazing.

Speaker 4:

But I also had hair in those days.

Speaker 2:

How old were you?

Speaker 3:

guys, when you met Okay, I wasn't quite 17. And Peter was.

Speaker 2:

Must've been about 21,. Yes, wow. And then you really only had a short time together, didn't you? Before you were off overseas, peter, to Vietnam.

Speaker 4:

That was a short time. How long was it all together? Three months.

Speaker 2:

Wow, so it was a fast romance and obviously you were destined to be together. Let's talk about that time where you were away, peter, because I find this so incredible. And again, paul, we touched on this a couple of weeks ago on the podcast, when and we'll get to this story this is the whole reason why we wanted to talk to you guys today about how, when you took the family overseas and we don't have all of that technology that we enjoy today, all of those conveniences at our fingertips Well, when you went to Vietnam, peter, how did you guys stay in touch?

Speaker 4:

Well, of course, in those days, writing letters was. There was no email, but you sure could write letters, and we also used the reel-to-reel voice tapes, and we would make those every, probably every second day. And the one good thing the Army did do while we were over there was have a great mail system, and they would get those to us pretty quick and, oh, of course, free. So with what they charge nowadays, that was a pretty good deal, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but I mean, you're still like. You know, jasper, the internet circle of death. You know the wheel of death. It'll be buffering for three seconds and you'll be like oh, it's not working anymore. What was the timeline you record this reel to reel? Was it like an eight mil reel, Three inch?

Speaker 3:

we'd call it then Right, was it three inch little tapes? They were little.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just tapes. Okay, but how long the?

Speaker 2:

anticipation must have healed you, yeah, of waiting to get them.

Speaker 4:

Well, of course you'd have to then wait for mail call, which they would have a mail call every day, but of course, as I said, it wasn't too bad the service that we got from the mail system, and probably the longest we might have waited was probably a week, so three or four days, not too bad, that's remarkable.

Speaker 1:

Might have waited was probably a week. So three or four days, not too bad, that's remarkable. And so then, how long were you actually serving over in Vietnam before you had that moment to be able to come back to Australia and SEMA?

Speaker 4:

You know, I had 12 months service over there, but after six months you were able to have a seven day R&R and you had a choice to go to I think it might have been Bangkok or you could come home, or you could just stay in country and go to the Grand Hotel. So I decided to come home and, in writing letters back and forward to Lynn and also her parents, we had decided to become engaged. Wow. And then we decided, or I thought, well, if I'm coming home to be engaged, why don't we get married?

Speaker 4:

In the same week, yes, in the week. What could possibly go wrong?

Speaker 3:

Well, and that's right. And can I tell a little story about the letters writing? Once we were in the flow of it, we had mail every day. I think Peter possibly would have had the same thing happening, but very early in the piece, in fact, just after Peter had left, my sister phoned me at work and said there's a letter here from Peter. I'm going to bring it to you. True story. They drove from Salisbury into Brisbane where I worked in the health department in Elizabeth Street, and I ran down the steps from work and they were parked out the front, which you kind of couldn't do now, and they said open it, open it. And I opened it and it said I love you 21 times. And they went, what I don't know what they thought it was going to say, but I don't know if you've heard that story, but true story. But okay. So what was the question that I didn't answer? You asked me a question and I went off on a track there, but I thought I had to tell you that because it's really like a profound moment.

Speaker 2:

I just love it. I could sit and listen to you guys and your stories for days on end and I think you had such an extraordinary start to your relationship. And, of course, then what was a whirlwind? Engagement and getting married all in the space of a week, and then, of course, peter, you having to go back to Vietnam and all of those things that you just I know. I certainly can't imagine myself in that scenario, and you guys did it at such a young age. It makes sense that you've gone on to have an extraordinary life together, and there's so many stories here that we could spend hours on this podcast talking about, but some I think that we do really need to highlight, of course, you creating this incredibly large family in a very short amount of time.

Speaker 3:

Yes, so I wanted to have lots of children, because I was born much later in the family and felt like an only child. I had two older sisters, and when I met Peter, he was the eldest of eight children and he wanted to have a big family. And I was like, wow, this is amazing, because even in our day, having seven children, or lots of children, was not really something that everyone was doing, and so we could not wait to start our family. And so Kathy, our eldest, was born about 18 months after we were married, and then subsequently there were six more.

Speaker 1:

In how many years. So people can really grasp this, because there was no twins or triplets or anything.

Speaker 3:

No, no, there weren't. The sixth child was born the day after the eldest turned seven, and then there's a two and a half year gap until the youngest, donna. So we have a girl first and a girl last and five boys in the middle. The girls say they're the bookends and there was nine and a half years between the girls, so very close.

Speaker 4:

And I do tell everyone. Of course we would have had more, but Lynne doesn't like kids.

Speaker 3:

Some people believe him when he says that they look at me and so you came home for your wedding back there in Vietnam.

Speaker 1:

Where was your honeymoon Like? In seven days you engaged, you wed and honeymooned, and then back to Vietnam.

Speaker 4:

Yeah Well, yeah well, believe it or not, we came down to the Gold Coast for our honeymoon and it was a totally different place to what it is today, but we had a great time. We had a lot of slide, because in those days you didn't really well, you didn't have a lot of, we didn't have a lot of pictures, but we did take a lot of slides and we thought we'd show this all the slides that I had from Vietnam, and Lynn had quite a few slides to show as well, so we thought we'd show them on, get a projector, which we did, and show them up on the roof of the motel or hotel that we were staying at, and I think it lasted about 30 seconds when it blew the bulb, so we didn't get to watch it.

Speaker 1:

No, you know it's funny. You know, through my growing up years, my friends and other people always joke oh didn't your parents have a TV? I'm like, well, yeah, actually they had a slide machine and it lasted 30 seconds and then, all of a sudden, I had siblings.

Speaker 3:

Now what are we going to do?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so let's talk about some of the what others could perceive as massive risks that you guys have taken, because that seems to be a theme of your life right, you haven't lived an ordinary life together. You've done things that other people, I'm sure, shook their head at and looked at you like you were absolutely crazy. And we can certainly say from our own experience too, when we made the decision to travel Australia full time, we had those people shake their heads and tell us we were crazy as well, and that really is the undertone of the life that you have created for yourselves and, of course, for all of the children and now the grandchildren. I mean, the family just has grown into this remarkable body of human beings. But you guys did take risks, and one of them was relocating your young family from Melbourne to the Gold Coast and starting afresh away from family. How was that as a challenge?

Speaker 3:

Yes, well, we moved from Melbourne. We'd wanted to do that. Peter loved the outdoors and the you know, surfing and all that sort of thing and of course Melbourne really didn't give us that opportunity very often, and so moving back to Queensland was always on the agenda. But we came back to Brisbane because my dad was really unwell at the time and that kind of pushed the decision, I think, at that time. But we were in Brisbane for about two years and that was really interesting and really challenging, because when I left I was a young bride and I came back pregnant with my sixth baby and I didn't quite fit into what everybody knew me as, I guess.

Speaker 3:

And so two years down the track we moved to the Gold Coast and that was probably the best thing that we did. We just loved that we had that opportunity to have our children grow up on the beach. It was a beautiful weather. I don't know if it's a negative thing to say, but a family member said raising your children on the Gold Coast sin bounces off the pavement, and we were like that'll be interesting. But you know, it was so wholesome. They had a wholesome life, a healthy life.

Speaker 1:

Look, and I always, even on this podcast, reflect back to that upbringing and just what a gift to be growing up in that environment. Like you say, on the beach, you know, come home when the streetlights come on, kind of thing. It was a different world. It was probably a little safer in many ways, but it wasn't exactly easy. I mean it's you know you just move to the Gold Coast. When you guys moved there, the story is you had $100. Is that right, dad?

Speaker 4:

That's correct. That's about all we had, believe it or not? Okay, lynn went out. We went and bought chickens out at Narang a whole I forget how many. We got quite a number, and we'd go door to door selling fresh chickens. Yeah, not live right.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no.

Speaker 4:

I was just going to say that was one of the things we did, along with, of course, we've always been involved in some form of direct marketing or sales, and so they'll tell you about that further on down the track, but that was the start of, I guess, our direct sales beginning and a really entrepreneurial idea to think, okay, we'll buy a handful of frozen chooks and then sell them for a margin and then pay the rent and then buy more chickens.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, we ate a lot of chicken as well, didn't we?

Speaker 3:

I was just going to say it was definitely part of the staple diet was chicken and I want to say four of our seven children are vegetarian now.

Speaker 1:

You did, you over did it Including me we overcooked them yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's right. I love that, though, because it also I mean your values on where you wanted to spend your time. You both didn't go off into full-time employment working for other people. I mean you did what you could so that you had that family unit together all the time, and again, we love that. It's. The best part about our decision to travel Australia is that we've got Jasper by our side 24-7. And look, some would argue that there are moments when you just do need to have some adult time and all of that, but in the main, you know, choosing that in itself is a big decision to choose. We're going to make our family the priority and we'll figure out the income, and you know how we thrive after that, oh, absolutely, it was a beautiful time.

Speaker 3:

It's a family. We'd say we're going to the beach or whatever, and one of the you know, as they got older, oh, we don't want to go. And Peter would say one goes, we all go. And that was basically what we did. But talking about taking risks, share your favourite saying, peter Life is either.

Speaker 4:

Oh, it's either a daring adventure or nothing at all. That was not mine, that was Helen Keller, and she was both blind and deaf. So you know that's incredible, isn't it? Yeah?

Speaker 3:

And so I was not anywhere near as adventurous, but I went along for the ride and it was wonderful. My life would have been boring, I guess. Compared to what it has been, I've had the most amazing experiences. I'm really thankful.

Speaker 2:

So where did you get your inspiration from? Because obviously a lot of people out there, you know maybe want to live that kind of lifestyle, want to be able to make that change, but don't know where to find that inspiration or get that education from.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and the risk is so great Even for us, katie, to be really planned in the risk. We didn't just jump in and we had a two-year plan. But for you guys it was just for a lot of people just seemed like how do you be inspired to take that risk?

Speaker 2:

Were there books that you read. Were there authors that you loved? How did you get?

Speaker 3:

these tools? Okay, yes, books and personal development tapes at the time. Okay, yes, books and personal development tapes. At the time we listened, we read, we were inspired by the first multi-level business that we were in and we watched a promotional video or at least a movie which was on a big reel to reel and we had to hire projectors and we were in recruiting people by inspiring them to be part of this. And we saw this trip around the USA in a motorhome.

Speaker 3:

And I get goosebumps literally as I talk about it now, because we watched that movie every hour or so for weekends at a time as people came that answered an ad in the newspaper, which is different. That was what you had to do and we just watched it over and over and we were so like, oh, wouldn't that be amazing to do that? And down the track, you know it must have gone into our subconscious because when we did take our family to the USA and the trip itself was inspired by what we'd seen on the movie, we weren't going to buy a motorhome, we hired a vehicle and we didn't know what we were going to do maybe stay in like caravan parks or something, but we drove down this street to show the kids Disneyland and there were motorhomes in driveways for sale and we actually bought one that was the same motorhome as in the movie. Oh my goodness, and to this day we still get goosebumps when we talk about that. And that was it.

Speaker 4:

It was, as you say, the same motorhome. Amazing, that would happen just driving down the street, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And we bought it the day we arrived. We put the deposit on. We had to go and get money out the bank, which would be another whole story because right into LA in this little vehicle that nine of us were in so many stories within the story. But we bought it the day we arrived and we sold it the day before we left. We'd put a sign in the window. We did have a plan B. We had the people. We bought it off. We're going to keep it and sell it for us if we didn't sell it. We sold it the day before we left to come home to Australia six months later.

Speaker 2:

It is amazing and it is, as you said, lynne, one tiny, incredible component to this bigger story. Let's just rewind a little bit and talk about okay, so we had the inspiration to go and travel overseas at some point. How did you do it? Because that's what people will be asking and that's what we got asked all the time how did you get from that dream to then physically getting seven children you crazy people onto a plane and over to the other side of the world for six months?

Speaker 4:

Well, first of all, we had moved on from selling the chickens to a multi-level company that had a system whereby you could, if you worked hard enough, recruited enough people, sold enough product, helped enough others, you could get a residual income. And in fact, we're talking about books before. One of the books we read was from Zig Ziglar, which was See you at the Top. One of his famous sayings are if you can help enough other people get what they want, you'll have all you want Love it.

Speaker 4:

And so that certainly inspired us and was one of the contributing factors to us joining and being involved in multi-level. And then, when it came to the time when kids all said, you know, we'd love to go to America and we, you know, we want to go to Disneyland, kids all said, you know, we'd love to go to America and we want to go to Disneyland. I said, well, great, we'd love to go too, but what you'll have to do is you'll have to pay your own way and we'll go for six months, and then our residual income will keep us there. And they said, okay, but what can we do as kids? And I said, well, you could sell drinks on the beach, you could sell lollies after school. And that's exactly what they did. And within probably 18 months or less, they had saved enough money to pay for their own ticket there and back, and we had increased our residual income enough to be able to stay there for six months and, of course, buy the motorhome outright, which was awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, look, it is amazing. I even now look back on that time and it did set in motion not only that idea of, you know, being an entrepreneur and working for yourself and you know, having goals and writing those down and then working out a plan on how to achieve it, but, you know, for us as kids, our first business as you mentioned dad was called Kidco, and Kidco was us actually taking little eskies of poppers and selling them to the sunbathers on the beach, as you say. It was very seasonal, but we had a good margin. We were buying them for 19 cents and selling them for 55 cents.

Speaker 1:

So there was a good markup, but you know, some cute tan, blonde, blue-eyed kids all coming up to sunbathers when they didn't have to run up the hot sand to the shop and it was. You know, service to their towel was an absolute winner, but seasonal. And then, really, through your dad at the time, he inspired us then to look at a confectionery-based business which we called Sweet Success, sweet Success, sweet Success, and that skyrocketed us, didn't?

Speaker 3:

it, it did.

Speaker 4:

I mean that really set a completely different level of success for us little entrepreneurs at the time and, as you say, that wasn't seasonal because you could do it every day Rain hail or shine. After school. Instead of, you know, going off playing down the beach, you would wait for the weekend and sell your drinks on the beach then, yeah, Drinks, but you would sell your lollies after school. So, yeah, that was a great lesson and a great well. It's stead everyone, I think, in good stead ever since.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you get your street smarts a little bit. But I think more than that, it was those life skills that parents talk about. I think more than that it was those life skills that parents talk about.

Speaker 1:

You know, my kid hasn't got any self-esteem or he lacks confidence or she's struggling with being able to communicate well All these little things that you don't really get at school. We all of a sudden had an abundance of it through this experience. But then to get to the States and to be able to have achieved that through our after school work was really the gift in it and for me it completely embedded this idea that to be able to travel to see other countries and cultures and people totally broadened our horizons.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, amazing. But there was one other thing that went hand in hand with the sales, and that was dancing.

Speaker 3:

Oh yes, ballroom dancing. That was amazing because we'd met at ballroom dancing. We, through a series of events, we all went along to dancing when, I think, were you 15,.

Speaker 1:

Paul Right before we went to America, and I turned 15 the day we arrived. Actually there in Hawaii, that was your 15th birthday, yeah, so you were 14, cathy 15, anthony, 15, 16.

Speaker 3:

And down to Donna, who was then six, seven, I think.

Speaker 4:

we started ballroom dancing, but it was like what Kate said a minute ago, we wanted to do a family activity that the whole family was involved in. So yes.

Speaker 3:

So we went along to ballroom dancing and we had some pushback from a couple of our boys, one of which was Paul. I can't imagine.

Speaker 2:

No, no, can you.

Speaker 3:

No, don't want to go, anthony don't want to go. And Peter said well, one goes, we all go, so you'll come and no, you won't sit in the car, You'll come in. Well, guess what was at the ballroom studio? Lots of girls, yeah, and it wasn't very long, and they were on their feet and I have to say some of the genes must have, you know, from our experience, they could all dance. And the ballroom teacher was old Harry Brooks, and he came over to me before the end of the first lesson and said don't promise your boys to anyone, talk to me first, because there were mothers of daughters coming up and, you know, sitting down having a chat, eyeing off which one would best suit her daughter as a ballroom partner. True story.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, look, I was really more than anything concerned about my peers you know, my mates at school really beating up on me doing this really girly activity. And what happened very quickly, as you say, is that I realized that you know, putting my head in a ruck in the rugby league field or holding a young lady in my arms and twirling around the floor was it was no decision to make.

Speaker 1:

It was obvious no-brainer right. That certainly then set me on my career path into the world of entertainment. Yeah, remarkable For you guys too to see that come full circle from where you met must have been Amazing.

Speaker 3:

And so Cathy and Paul. So the eldest daughter and Paul were partnered, and I think at that stage Anthony wasn't doing all the classes because he still had his lolly round, his chocolate round, on a weekend or something. He wasn't going to all the classes. So there wasn't any sort of debate as to whether it would be him or you partnering Kathy. So it was you right. And then the two youngest, jeff and Donna, they were partnered Once again, you guys winning couples. And then the other boys partnered with sisters. And then there was another family involved with the other one, and so we'd all go away for weekends to ballroom dancing competitions, and so Fridays we'd spend all day preparing, like ironing pants and shirts and making sure the sequins were on all the dresses. It was fantastic. It was 18 months of absolute connected family fun and road trips.

Speaker 1:

And road trips. Yes, I think this is the other part of this whole story. It didn't matter whether we were doing our chocolate business and having to go see wholesale suppliers in Melbourne and towing a trailer down there to fill up with tons of chocolate, come back and sell around really the secretaries and office suites and corporate sector of the Gold Coast primarily but the road trip was very much embedded in our upbringing all the way through.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and there was always good music and good motivation. Yeah, motivational tapes, which sometimes it was pushback Do we have to listen to this? But oh, oh, my goodness, every one of our seven have said the things that we learned. There have been what?

Speaker 2:

have set us on our path in life. So true, it's so awesome. I really do want to touch on this idea of you packing up your family and heading to the other side of the world when you did, because there was no such thing as internet, there weren't mobile phones, we didn't have all of the conveniences. No Starlink. No Starlink. That's right. If you needed money, you physically had to go into a bank. There's so many logistical things that make my brain hurt thinking about taking seven children overseas for that amount of time, let alone the unknown of when you get there. How did you make that work?

Speaker 3:

We just believed it would work. I seriously don't remember being overly worried about it. I was happy Peter had decided that we would go and we did everything together. And hey, there's nine of us Like, yeah, I can go wrong, I guess, but even like the flights and everything, like at one stage Peter went, I hope it wasn't a shonky travel agent that we just spent all that money with. Remember having that feeling Because they didn't answer the phone or something there was some.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, there's many, many scary times or times that we thought, but I guess you just work out a solution to it or try a different way. I mean probably the only real scary time we had in the States was not with outside forces or anything, but it was to do with money. When they cut up your credit cards, you can hardly pay for the next lot of fuel in your tank. You know what do you do?

Speaker 3:

So we need to, you know, go further on that story. Our link with Australia, with our residual income was the company we worked for. One of the girls in the office would walk across to the bank and deposit the check right, and then that would be on the credit card, and so we would have that pretty quickly really for those days. But somehow the money didn't go in, or there was some like there was honestly some hiccup in why. I went into the bank to try and get the money and they said, oh no, this card is not legitimate, or there was some issue, and stood there and cut it up in front of me and I was seriously like my heart beats fast thinking about it. Now it's like don't do that, don't do that. She goes oh no, I have to do that. I think she got a reward for cutting up a credit card, so I seriously do, anyway. So then we found a phone box and we checked the time, obviously, and then we phoned my bank and I was friends with the bank manager and I still am. We're friends on Facebook and I said, oh my gosh, peter, they've cut up my credit card. And I said don't worry, have you got a post office a way for me to get you another one, and I had it in less than like, it was about five days, absolutely incredible.

Speaker 3:

Once again, goosebump stuff, because how, like, how did that happen? But it was because we had a relationship with that man. You know that he was and he was inspired and he did a trip with his boys, but to New Zealand, I think. But at the time he was like you guys are like wow, are you really doing this? But there you go. So at another time we'd transferred $2,000 and it disappeared. It went to some corporate bank in New York and we were in Denver at the time and we were like, oh, that was madness and we'd met so many stories. But we'd met someone who loved what we had and said I'll give you the $2,000. Didn't?

Speaker 4:

know us, it's true.

Speaker 3:

Didn't know us, amazing, didn't know us really, from a bar of soap no, yeah, and I'll lend it to you. And then, of course, we got the money and gave it back, but he also gave you rides in his what was his car Mustangs. Yeah, I thought you were cool.

Speaker 1:

Camaro and a Mustang.

Speaker 3:

And took you out for a pancake breakfast Dairy.

Speaker 1:

Queen and yeah, these are complete strangers. It's a common story that happened. Three hours, six months of travel. There Was meeting remarkable people that thought that we were borderline crazy, but Crocodile Dundee was huge at the time as well. If you remember Paul Hogan, everyone you know loved the Aussie accent.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

But incredibly open-armed and open-hearted people are Americans in general. We found.

Speaker 3:

That's exactly right. And still are. They still are.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that seems to be a common thread now too, paul, that we see as we travel Australia, and certainly for you guys as well, and that's a good segue for me to get into. But the people are the best part about our full-time travel.

Speaker 4:

The caravanning community is an incredible community and we just love it.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. We totally agree with you there, Grandad. And look, we've met some phenomenal people who've done amazing things for us over our five years as well. So let's talk about that, because you guys are on the road now too, aren't you? Yes?

Speaker 3:

yes, we have times back on the Gold Coast where we stay with family times. We're on the road. We're not quite as adventurous as Paul and Katie and Jasper. We mainly stick to the east coast of Queensland and we love far north Queensland. We absolutely love Palm Cove. We've had great times in Emu Park and Harvey Bay. We love the Gold Coast because that's where most of the family are. But we catch up with these guys. So where do we catch up? Mainly? Yeah, we've kind of parked beside each other sometimes and that's been really fantastic, so we love it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, look, we totally agree. It suits you so well. And gosh, it's been quite a few years now for you, with your caravan and living on the road. The only thing we haven't successfully managed to do, paul, is to convince these guys to travel with us for an extended period of time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, I mean, you guys have got an epic size van. It's 27 foot, maybe on paper, and then Dad's added a couple of other modifications on there. It might be up to 30 by now, but we're trying to talk you into a motorhome. You know which is how we did it back there in that dusty old Winnebago. That model was called a Scout Is that right.

Speaker 3:

I've been told, there you go, yeah, yeah that was amazing.

Speaker 4:

Yeah Well, a motorhome is probably the next upgrade for us.

Speaker 3:

It'll certainly make it easier to be on the road and keep up with you guys.

Speaker 2:

Then you might get really sick of us. Then, oh look, we're like you. We always look on the bright side of life, and so we're just thinking you know grandparent time, babysitting time and a little bit of adult time that we've been missing out on.

Speaker 1:

Love it. Now, there's more to this story, obviously, but something remarkable when you really consider, there's, you know, nine very big personalities within our family. I always joke that I'm the normal one when people ask about my siblings.

Speaker 1:

But and obviously I'm not your favorite, I know that, guys but I'm up there, at least I'm high up the pecking order but we did achieve. Well, if you were a girl you would have been the favorite yeah, mate, look, I know that Dad. This is all good. But we did achieve, as a family, a book that we co-authored all nine of us called Family Business, the Business of being Family, and I'll make sure there's a link in the show description there. But it's a way for people really to probably get to know more of your story and more of our families, and I do think it is extraordinary and not ordinary, that's for sure.

Speaker 4:

Yes, we have been blessed with an extraordinary life is what I think, so very thankful yeah well, the book would be a great way to check us all out again, and that was, of course, only thanks to Paul and our wonderful editor Kate yes, who put it. Wonderful editor Kate yes who put it all together really.

Speaker 2:

Oh look, I think I formatted and took some spelling errors out. Yeah a lot of spelling errors. Yeah, you guys certainly did the work and it is remarkable, you know.

Speaker 2:

I think oftentimes you'll hear people say, oh, you should write a book and everybody has a book in it, but in them, I should say, but the fact that as a family, you guys have done that. It's on paper. We recently purchased a copy and gifted it to Jasper to start to read, because he was so excited to learn that there is a Girin family book and you know that he is a part of it. I think it must almost be time for a sequel.

Speaker 3:

Yes, where are they now? That's remarkable.

Speaker 1:

One of the opening parts, the foreword of that book. You have this really wonderful analogy. I think that sums it up perfectly. Can you share that with us?

Speaker 3:

Yes, so we're all on the same bus but we're all looking at different windows, and so that was brought home to me when we wrote the book, because we'd have several writing about some incident or event or situation that we're in and I was like I was there. How did that appear to be that way for that particular person? And there may even be three different takes on it. And that is we're all looking out different windows. Good thing to remember in day-to-day life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. It's all about perspective, isn't it?

Speaker 3:

It is for sure.

Speaker 2:

We all have a different one, and I think what is so inspiring about you guys is that, no matter what you know, you've certainly had adversity, you've had hard times, you've come up against challenges the whole way through your relationship and, of course, with the kids and the grandkids and I'm sure that just adds so much more stress, as the family has grown as well but you've always faced it with a positive outlook, with an attitude of gratitude. But also you know how can we take this situation and deal with it so that we come out the other end. You know better for it, and that in itself is so inspiring.

Speaker 1:

Thank you guys. Oh, thank you. Yeah, we've loved it.

Speaker 3:

We love telling the stories.

Speaker 1:

Truly an inspiration and such a gift to be able to share this time with you guys, and as is the book, with us being able to record something like this, a podcast. We see it really as our own little time capsule to look back on. You know, it really is the greatest legacy you could leave others is your stories. You know better than souvenirs the best souvenirs are your stories, aren't they? Yes, absolutely Indeed. All right, we're going to wrap it up there, Thank you.

Speaker 3:

Mum and Dad Lynn and Peter. Thank you Paul, Thank you Katie, and we're going to have a quick word from this podcast sponsor and we'll be back in just a moment.

Speaker 1:

This week's podcast is brought to you by Nakey, home of the world's first 100% recycled hammock, made from 37 plastic post-consumer water bottles and weighing less to one kilo. Nakey products will not only make you feel good see what I did there but they make the environment feel good too.

Speaker 2:

Love it, Nakey. Relax wherever you go. Seriously, what are you waiting for? We love the Nakey products so much. We have so many of the Nakey products and they are all awesome. Look, if you want to get your hands on some Nike products, jump on over to our website and take advantage of the awesome 15% feel good discount code that our good friends at Nike have provided for our awesome feel good family audience.

Speaker 1:

So good. Thank you, Nike, Love those guys Again, as we always say, another great Australian family story. Okay, now this week's takeaway off the back of having Lynn and Peter my mum and dad there on the podcast is that time is the ultimate luxury.

Speaker 2:

And we talk about this in just about every podcast episode. It really is the one thing that we all have in common and it's the one thing that we have in our control as to how we spend it and who we spend it with.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's interesting, you know, hearing back on those stories and reliving that and remembering those moments with my childhood and at no point I mean my parents had a hundred bucks, you know, and the rent was that. Then you know they're already taking this risk. They got all these mouths to feed. They go buy chickens, sell them door to door. You know, I had no idea. I was just living on a beach mate, so I had this incredibly rich upbringing and it wasn't rich in the money tree sense, it was rich in the time that my parents afforded us to be a family. And what a gift. And we say it again, you only get 18 summers with your kids. Choose what you're going to do with your time now and make those decisions. Take that risk. It's not a risk, it's the best decision you'll ever make.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, beautifully said, paulie. Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed this week's podcast and I'm sure you have too, listening out there all around the world. Thank you again for joining us. We're excited for next week's podcast.

Speaker 1:

We sure are All right for now. We'll leave it there. Dream big, look after yourself and look after your family.

Speaker 2:

And happy trails. Oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh.

People on this episode

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Katie Guerin

Host
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Paul Guerin

Host