A volatile housing market, the rising cost of living and concern for the environment are some of the factors that drive people off the grid.
For Fred Jeffree, it was the neighbour's dog barking that proved the last straw before his decision to ditch outback suburbia and start afresh on a peaceful patch of dirt 2,000 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.
"We wanted to get away from the noise of the town," he said.
