Go-Roadtrip Blog

In 1992, I joined as a volunteer with Lakes Entrance CFA - Fire Rescue and proudly served the community across various parts of Victoria and interstate for almost 25 years before leaving for Queensland.

First responders' exposure to dangerous and traumatic situations were a regular occurrence.

Whilst I attended thousands of calls over the years several have lasting impacts on the memory, these include the huge Alpine Fires, Sydney Fires, Black Saturday and many Road Accident Rescue & structure fires.

Without any knowledge all of these were growing a black box in my head, after each traumatic exposure the box continued to fill, looking back now I can see how it impacted my day to day life in particular to the one's closest to me as they were easy targets to load my mood onto and distance myself from.

In 2003 following a Structure Fire in which I believed I had found a body on a lounge inside a house fire, it resulted in a mental breakdown.

Because medical information didn't exist for First Responders back then, no consideration was even given to this hidden black box, so I got the depression tag and started the anti depressant roller coaster.

In 2004, after a significant issue started to present itself in the USA, an increasing number of first responders were coming forward with significant psychological symptoms following the 9-11 attacks. PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (however most who suffer don't agree with the "disorder" and prefer PTSI - Post Traumatic Stress Injury) had previously only really been considered an issue for combat veterans, but with growing evidence it highlighted a growing concern.

In 2018, Phoenix Australia released the worlds first diagnostic & treatment guidelines for PTSD in First Responders. It can present itself in many different ways, but for some like me it was a Black Box recorder in my head that I didn't know was there.

Wounds that can't be seen are very difficult particularly for men to seek help given the stigma attached.

So when my wife & I took off in December 2016, I had no idea that my black box was very close to open and cause another full breakdown. Antidepressants alone were never going to help.

In 2017 after the start of the Sugar Cane Harvesting (Crush) Season, I become increasingly distressed seeing smoke and not responding to it which was what my head was wired to do, anxiety levels grew, then other triggers started to emerge causing adverse reactions psychologically for me to the point I couldn't get out of bed, I just cried and was terrified of leaving my room.

It was in 2017/2018 that started seeing a Psychologist & Psychiatrist. After several sessions that included medication changes and additions, ultimately I was diagnosed with Chronic PTSD and a Major Depressive disorder. I was incredibly lucky to be gifted an Assistance Dog "Hali" who is highly trained with full public access rights and specialised in PTSD support.

Treatment continued with the most difficult being EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing which involves several weeks of preparation about a particular event that has been identified as needing significant intervention. EMDR takes you back to the worst possible memory of the worst possible incident and like being hypnotised but staying fully conscious, the psychologist then reveals feelings, emotions and elements of the trapped trauma to become unlocked for the brain to try process in the now.

Managing a Resort and a large number of other Holiday properties kept us extremely busy, come with lots of responsibilities and lots of pressure. My work capacity significantly decreased with crippling anxiety and always being ready to respond to the next emergency, the simplest of things would send me into an adrenaline fuelled panic to command & control because that's how my brain was wired after 25 years.

We faced various other challenges in the years that followed including COVID lockdowns, which kept us away from some of our family for many months.

Medically my psychiatrist & psychologist encouraged me to transition out of this business that we had improved to a very high level, but was fuelling the fire I was fighting in my head.

We made the decision that the best thing for us to do would be to sell and return to East Gippsland Victoria where our eldest daughter, husband and our two grandchildren were based.

I am a seeker of adventure, exploration and new experiences. My partner and I spent years travelling all around Australia living in the back of our 4x4, working along the way. We currently live on an island in Queensland where we are renovating a house and spend almost every weekend on the water in the bay. We escape to the mainland to spread our wings before returning to the peace and solitude of our small island.

Gary Jackson, Lisa and their young-adult children are overland campers lucky enough to be living just a stone’s throw from one of Australia’s premier four wheel drive destinations, the Victorian High Country.

Every opportunity is taken to head bush away from busy work and school life to seek out remote secluded campsite destinations. Gary and Lisa’s day job is running their successful bicycle store, Riviera Cycles which they established back in 1995. When not working or camping, you’ll find Gary on a Mountain Bike somewhere on the trails of East Gippsland.

We are Kacey and Kyle, two young and adventurous humans who love to explore and find the world's best kept secrets! Our love for travelling runs deep, after both travelling different parts of Australia and the world for most of our lives. While still working our 9-5 jobs as a teacher and a chippy, we use our weekends and holidays to “stay off track”. After going on a few trips over the last 8 years together we decided to create “Staying Off Track”, a page to share our adventures with our friends and family, little did we know this would soon become a place where we share these trips with the world!

Who is Candice? Well, that probably depends on who you ask! To my husband I am a farmer’s wife. To my daughter I am a Mum. To my friends and family I am a crazy horse lady that is more at home in a saddle than anywhere else in world...but to me, I’m a day dreamer. I could lay in the sunshine and watch a spider spin his web for hours. I take great pleasure watching the beauty of the world while most hurry through life missing the little miracles that happen all around us each day.

Hey I am Xana, an ICU trained travel nurse. I was feeling a bit stagnant in my job so I decided to take a massive plunge, quit my full time job and pursue travel nursing. COVID ruined my international plans but I wasn’t going to let it stop me travelling Aus!

I absolutely love the flexibility, freedom and lifestyle of being a travel nurse. I have a 4WD and a rooftop tent that allows me to travel whilst I'm in between contracts and also explore some amazing places! Whilst travelling I met Jess and we decided to combine forces and start an amazing platform for other travel nurses to provide information, stories and general fun!

Hey my name is Jess and I am known as the nomad travel nurse. A few years ago, I got my heart broken and I decided to sit down and focus on a “bucket list journey”. I spent weeks having a BIG think about what I wanted to do in life and then I decided to give myself 18 months to tick of 20 of my own personal bucket list goals.

I have ticked close to 20 now and loving life. This started my big adventure as a travel nurse (as this was a bucket list goal), and now I travel around Australia doing contracts, exploring and meeting some INCREDIBLE people. I created a website with my buddy Xana, and it focuses on all things travelling, nursing, relationships and creating your own bucket list journey.

Hi, I'm Damian and I am the creator of Go-Roadtrip. I'm an outdoor enthusiast that spends most of my time indoors. Work that out! My trade is graphic design and I love creating visual comms for my clients. Graphics, websites and videos.

I created Go-Roadtrip as a side project in 2019 after I saw a decline in my workload. I'd recently done 2 stints as a head brewer in two breweries. Making beer was an awesome experience and a great departure from staring at a computer most of my day. During my time at the breweries I created scratch maps and sold them here online. The idea really took off.