Home for Bec and I (Mark) is Maffra, Australia. I was born in Maffra and have lived in this small town for 51 years. On the other hand, Bec was born in Melbourne and spent time in Western Australia before living in some smaller towns around Maffra as a kid. Maffra only has a population of 8000 and is dead centre in the middle of a dairy farming region.
Maffra – Small Town Australia
What was once a thriving industry supporting local businesses is slowly dying as the costs and multi-national companies put the almighty dollar before the local community.
Maffra is probably best known for its meat pies and football team, The Maffra Eagles. Our two kids went to school here and grew up here. While one (Willow) is now living her best life in China, the other (Marley) still attends the local high school Bec and I attended as teenagers, and no, we did not meet in high school.
Maffra is not an exciting town by any means of the imagination; there is no cinema here, no bowling alley, and there is not anything much to do for anyone unless you’re into sports, that is. There is not even that much to do in the surrounding areas. The beach is about 45 minutes away, while the mountains are a similar distance. Going to the big city, Melbourne is 222 kilometres straight down the Princes Highway.
Maffra is slowly going the way of many other small towns where there is nothing to do for young kids, crime is increasing, and houses and cars are getting broken into.
People in Maffra work, go home, wake up the next day, and do it all over again, and most are happy with that. The older I get, the less happy I am with that. Once you turn 50, you know your best years are behind you, and you have fewer years in front of you than you have behind you. Maffra has been my inspiration to travel, my muse, as they may say, in the big picture of my life.
I have never wanted to live here, but I still am. I always thought there was more to life than Maffra, and I am right about that. Travel has taught me one thing: the world is different if you only take the time to look.
For those who have not travelled far and wide, it would be easy to think that life in Maffra is how life generally is. Maffra will always be my home, my place of growing, where Bec and I got married and raised our kids.
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What I don’t want is for Maffra to be my whole future. I don’t want to grow old just going on a two-week holiday every year and a day trip to the city a few times a year. I dream of faraway places in distant lands. I want a life of enjoyment, wonder and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
I like the hustle and bustle of Asia, where the cities seem alive. I want to walk in the footsteps of history in old town squares and enjoy a drink while the sun sets over the ocean.
The best version of our lives is when we are travelling, free from the everyday bullshit of doing the 9-5 and arguing over why the washing hasn’t been folded and who made the mess in the kitchen.
We were on track for the type of life I described until Google stifled our progress as content creators and bloggers. After building our online presence into a 100,000-dollar-a-year business, Google has taken our traffic away and reduced our income by 70%.
We are at a fork in the road where pivoting is not just a choice. It’s the only way to continue making an online income that will allow us to live our best lives as digital nomads in the future.
We welcome you on our journey if you have stumbled upon this article. If you can spare another minute, please invest in some of our other projects, such as Wyld Family Travel and Things to Do in Sanur.
Thanks for reading.
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