Van Journal Week 10 – Southern Tassie

Van Journal Week 10 – Southern Tassie

On our tenth week of living in a van in Tasmania, Haylea and I drove south. We had three visitors on three different occasions, but now it was just the two of us again.

We wanted to get out and explore some wild parts of the state, but bad weather still kept us on the sidelines. We completed one final hike near Hobart, then headed to the southernmost point of Tasmania and explored the Hastings region.

Knowing that our first real taste of the untamed Southwest National Park on the Adamsons Falls route was just a small taste inspired us to make some big adventure plans for the following weeks!

What we do

This week we got back into the routine of things. With this blog being read 50,000 times a month, I'm sure many are wondering what on earth we actually do. From the outside, it might look like we're living the idyllic, carefree travel lifestyle you often see on Instagram. But as is almost always the case, there is so much more going on behind the scenes.

We are not “on vacation”.

A digital nomad lifestyle often involves a lot more work than if you worked 9-5, and much less immediate financial reward most of the time. What you don't see are the 16-hour days locked in a van in front of a laptop screen, or us packing up our headsets at 12:30 a.m. after a long night of online classes. Obviously we're not doing this to get rich or even build financial security; in fact, that would be a ridiculous undertaking. It is much easier to secure a permanent job in the comfort of your hometown.

Together, Haylea and I have been traveling for 4 years and live on average on less than $50 per day. Not out of necessity, but in pursuit of a pure, minimalist existence. To fund this, we worked on several online jobs including SEO copywriting, English teaching, SEO consulting, backlink building, and even mystery shopping. These were always a means to an end and I personally never felt a sense of passion in them.

But there is an end goal that, I admit, may seem confusing to most people reading this. Since I first published in 2019, my main passion and focus has been this blog. I didn't have the foggiest idea how I could support this passion for travel/adventure and photography, but I knew if I tried hard enough, I could make enough money to keep going.

The thought of spending 2, 3, maybe even 5 years pouring everything I have into this blog before I've even made a living has never scared me off. Money never motivated me, but my passion for raw experiences did. If there's anything in life that motivates you, it's to get up and do the things you love.

But the fact is, building passive income is difficult and requires A LOT (years) of self-motivated, unpaid hours. Although the pandemic has not been kind, I knew from day one how much work this would entail. I knew that building a passive income from your passions was easy, anyone would do it. But nothing worth doing is easy.

We're not on vacation here either. Easy is not a word I would use to describe 8-hour online teaching sessions sitting on hard guesthouse bathroom tiles at midnight. I also wouldn't say that writing 3,500-word essays about the best bird baths or the best chest workouts for other people's blogs (with a 12-hour turnaround time at 3 cents per word) was easy. Especially if the internet connection is patchy. This has been our reality for the past few years as I worked tirelessly to build my own project.

Admittedly, at times we've wondered if it wouldn't be easier to return to the endless cycle of slave labor to save money for travel rather than pursuing a sustainable digital nomad lifestyle.

But this week our hard work and patience finally started to bear fruit. April was the first month I ever received enough passive income from this blog to fully rely on it as my primary salary. Growth is steady and turning the corner for May, it looks like this trend will exceed April. The work I did three years ago is paying off for us today and will continue to do so in the years and decades to come. If that's not motivation to keep grinding today, then I don't know what is.

It's an exciting time for us and a reminder that if you want something bad enough, the universe will give it to you. But first you have to do the work.

Finding a balance between adventure and computer work is essential. Now, at the end of week 10 of living in a van in Tasmania, we definitely feel like we've settled into the groove. We work hard every day, but we also live out here every day. We know this balance well and treat it with respect. We count our blessings every day.

If you made it through this, congratulations. And thank you for your interest in what we do.

If you'd like to learn more about how we started working online, I recently updated an old post about helping others get started. If you are also interested in the lifestyle, I am sure you will get something out of it.
alt=“WE ARE LOOKING FOR TRAVEL BEHIND THE SCENES”>Behind the scenes

Collins Cap and Myrtle Falls

Before we headed south this week, a quick hike near Hobart was on our list.

Collins Cap near Collinsvale is a lightly traveled path to a small mountain peak in Wellington Park. We had heard that from the top you can get stunning views of Mount Wellington and the mountain ranges behind the park. There was also a waterfall on the way. So of course we went straight there.

Read more: Hiking guide for the Collins Cap Walk and Myrtle Forest Falls

• alt=“MYRTLE FOREST FÄLLT TASMANIEN“>
• alt=“PILZ AUF DEM COLLINS CAP TRACK, MYRTLE FOREST“>
• alt=“CREEK CROSSING AUF DEM COLLINS CAP TRAIL“>
• alt=“COLLINS CAP WALK TASMANIEN“>

Adams Falls

Personally, Southwest National Park was one of the main reasons for coming to Tasmania in the first place. Still, it had been over two months and we still hadn't entered the park.

That changed after we took a few wrong turns on forest roads and had to walk the last few kilometers on dirt roads (we love our van too much). Even though we've literally just scratched the edge of it, we've certainly felt how harsh this final piece of wilderness really is.

Read more: Adamsons Falls: Epic waterfall in the far south of Tasmania

• alt=“BAUMFALL AUF DER STRASSE NACH ADAMSONS FALLS“>
• alt=“ADAMSONS FÄLLE TASMANIEN“>
• alt=“TREEFALL AUF ADAMSONS FALLS TRACK“>Das war die Spur

Duckhole Lake

After spending a night next to an old quarry off a logging road in the middle of nowhere (it might as well have been Wolf Creek), we checked out the nearby Duckhole Lake Track.

This hike wasn't overwhelmingly beautiful, but it still felt great to be out in the woods after being couped up in front of the laptop in the van! We also managed to spot a wild platypus which is much larger down here than in Far North Queensland.

Read more: Duckhole Lake Tasmania: Complete Guide
alt=“WILD TASMANIAN PLATYPOLIS”>

Hastings Caves & Thermal Springs

The final adventure for the week before packing up was a trip to Hastings Caves & Thermal Springs. This karst cave system is one of the largest in Tasmania and I would say it is the most impressive I have seen in Australia!

After exploring the cave, we took advantage of the thermal pools at the visitor center. It sounds like that's exactly what the doctor ordered for Tassie Winter's crawl, and that's what it did for us initially. But 28 degrees wasn't as warm as I thought!

However, they had some of the most luxurious hot showers we had seen in a while, so be sure to take advantage of this offer.

Read more: Visiting Hastings Caves and Hot Springs: Tasmania's Best Caving Tour

• alt=“HASTINGS HÖHLEN UND THERMALQUELLEN TASMANIEN“>
• alt=“HASTINGS CAVES TRACK TASMANIEN“>
• alt=“HASTINGS HÖHLEN, NEWDEGATE HÖHLE TASMANIEN“>

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