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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
James Martin McCarthy

West Belfast family quit jobs to travel Australia in a caravan

Many of us often sit gazing out the window dreaming of quitting our jobs and travelling the world but few of us actually have the guts to do it.

However, one Northern Irish family have done just that and are currently travelling though Australia in a caravan!

Kevin and Jennifer Maguire from Andersonstown moved Down Under in 2008 after falling in love with the country while honeymooning on the east coast.

Read more: Current water quality ratings at popular beaches across Northern Ireland

Now with two children, the family decided to make a one in a lifetime change to their lives having been spurred on by the pandemic.

"When we came home from our honeymoon, we decided that we wanted a piece of the Australian lifestyle so we worked hard to get a visa and were only supposed to be here for a year but we have never looked back," Jennifer told Belfast Live.

"It is quite common here for people to do the lap of Australia but it is traditionally done by the 'grey nomads' who are essentially retirees but in recent years it has become more common for families with young kids to pack it all in for a year and go off on vacation.

"We thought we would do it for 12 months and rented our house out in Queensland. We were supposed to go back in November 2022 but have decided to keep going."

The family have been travelling through Australia in a caravan (Facebook: The Roving Maguires)

Jennifer told us that for the first 12 months they relied on their savings and had planned to treat it as a gap year.

Once they decided to continue on their travels, they decided to stop off and work for a while in Albany where Kevin took on full time work in the telecommunications industry and Jennifer took on a job in an office in a caravan park which gave them free rent.

The money they earned has allowed them to travel another portion of their journey without having to work.

"We started our travels when there was state by state lockdowns here in Australia," Jennifer said.

"We went from Queensland to New South Wales, travelled through the outback and spent four months around South Australia. Then we went through the middle to Uluru before travelling to West Australia last July.

"We loved West Australia so much we decided to keep travelling and seeing more.

"At the moment we are trying to figure out our next work stop."

The Maguire family have been charting their journey on a map (Submitted)

Throughout the trip, Kevin and Jennifer have been homeschooling their children aged seven and 10, a task which they continued to carry out after the pandemic.

"Jennifer is a registered homeschooler. It started off a bit shaky and we were overwhelmed trying to create a school environment in a caravan. It just wasn't working," Kevin said.

The family had to change it up so that they are teaching the kids through learning in their environment by going to museums, art galleries and aquariums while on the road.

"We are always surrounded by historical things with the likes of the Aboriginals and in the National Parks are always full of information on the history and ecological environment.

"Every place you go is completely different so we try and incorporate that into the learning alongside stuff that interests the kids."

Kevin and Jennifer have been homeschooling their children on the road (Facebook: The Roving Maguires)

The family are currently visiting the Ningaloo Reef where their children have been learning about the ecology of the local environment.

Throughout their trip, the family have been documenting their travels on social media including a recent swim with a Whale Shark which Kevin said was a bucket list moment for him.

"I set the Roving Maguires pages up on the day we left so that our family and friends could keep up with what we were up to," Jennifer added.

"We are normally quite private people and wouldn't really post on our own social media pages so as we settled into that lifestyle, it has grown because their is a brilliant travelling community out there who love to see what we are up to.

"We also wanted people to see that there is other ways of living. It is not just the nine to five grind where you work until you are in your sixties, retire, get sick and die."

The family have fallen in love with the West Coast of Australia (Submitted)

Jennifer and Kevin plan to continue their travels until 2025 when their daughter is due to begin High School.

"We plan to finish up towards the end of 2024 so that she can start High School in January 2025 although we don't know if we will go back to Queensland because I love it here on the reef," Jennifer finished.

You can follow the Maguire family's journey by searching for The Roving Maguires on Facebook or Instagram.

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