Jason and Mareike
Our Story

Our
Story.

What started as a chance meeting in a small brewery in Bremer Bay quickly became the beginning of the greatest adventure of our lives.

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Our Story

Western Australia, May 2023.

We met in May 2023 in a small town on the south coast of Western Australia. Easy conversation, plenty of laughs, and the strange feeling we'd known each other for years. Both of us had already walked away from stable corporate jobs to chase something more meaningful. By the time we met, we were both fully committed to a different kind of life.

Bluff Knoll, WA
Bluff Knoll, WA
Porongurup, WA
Porongurup, WA

Together we bought a Toyota Troopy and turned it into a home on wheels. Months roaming Australia — seven of them in Tasmania, the Overland Track, surprise family visits in Queensland, wild hikes and long drives. Every challenge brought us closer. In January 2025 we got married in a sunrise ceremony on the beach. No fuss. Just us and the ocean.

Cape Raoul, TAS
Cape Raoul, TAS
Bremer Bay, WA
Bremer Bay, WA
Mt Kosciuszko, NSW
Mt Kosciuszko, NSW

Bremer Bay had a hold on us — we even bought a piece of land there. But when we asked ourselves honestly what we really wanted, something bigger was pulling at us. So we sold the land, sold the vehicles, and started looking for a serious expedition truck in Europe. We found our 1986 Steyr 12M18. Our team — Rocket the dog, a baby on the way, and the two of us — needed a proper home on wheels.

Our land in Bremer Bay
Our land, Bremer Bay
Buying the Steyr
Buying the Steyr
Our Choice

We almost took the safe path.

We bought a piece of land in Bremer Bay, the small town where we first met. We were ready to settle down, take over a local business, and do the "responsible" thing. On paper it looked perfect.

But when we stood on that land, something felt wrong.

The life most people live isn't really a choice — it's the default. Mortgage, car payments, a job you tolerate, weekends that disappear too fast. You follow the next logical step everyone around you is taking… until one day you realise the years are gone.

Jason's dad died relatively young, before he ever got to retire. It made one thing brutally clear: we don't know when our time runs out. We refuse to spend the best years of our lives building someone else's dream just to afford a life we barely get to live.

So we sold the land. We sold the vehicles. We bet on the unknown.

We chose to build the truck instead of the house. We chose time together. We chose to live now — not one day. Now.

This is not for everyone. But it's the only life that feels honest to us.

The Vehicles

Five vehicles.
One destination.

Before the Steyr, we explored Australia across five different vehicles — each one teaching us something new about what we really needed.

Isuzu Ute + Canopy
01
Isuzu Ute + Canopy
A rooftop tent and a big dream. The beginning of everything.
Toyota Troopcarrier Bruce
02
Toyota Troopcarrier "Bruce"
30,000 km. Seven months in Tasmania. Rocket joined us en route.
Single Cab Hilux
03
Single Cab Hilux
Slide-on camper, then stripped back to a swag under the stars.
Toyota 79 Series Land Cruiser
04
Toyota 79 Series
Extended chassis, GVM upgrade. Capable — but still not quite home.
1986 Steyr 12M18
05 — This is home.
1986 Steyr 12M18
Eight months. 3,000+ hours. This truck is our life.
The Ute
Perfect for quick trips out bush, but in cold weather and heavy rain it felt too exposed — with nowhere comfortable to retreat to.
The Troopy
Incredible — capable, reliable, and full of character — but with three people and a dog, it simply became too small. It gave us shelter from the weather, but not the space we needed for full-time living.
The Slide-On Camper
A fantastic setup that gave us more room, but it still felt like only part of the solution. We wanted a dedicated home on wheels — something built specifically for long-term travel and everyday life. Staying within the vehicle's GVM was always a challenge, and while there are some amazing camper setups out there, we realised that for a similar investment, we could build something that truly suited us.
So we chose a truck.

We found a tired 1986 Steyr 12M18 that had been sitting in a yard for years. We weren't afraid of the hard work. With the right base, we knew we could build exactly the home we needed — tough enough for serious expedition travel, comfortable enough for full-time family life with our daughter and Rocket.

The Build

Want to see inside?

Every system, every decision, every corner of the space we call home — all the details of how we built our life on wheels.

See our home →