Kaufe Shannon, Theo & Rosa einen Kaffee

We are a Somerset family who decided we would do our very best to travel to Australia and back using public transport in time for my sister Ellie’s wedding on the 28th of December.

Theo and I gave up flying in 2002 because we wanted to reduce our carbon footprint and our daughter Rosa had never flown before we left Castle Cary station on the 16th of August 2023.

My sister emigrated to Australia in 2007 and we have never visited her or seen the life she has created for herself in her new country. We hadn’t met Mike, the man she was going to marry on the 28th of December, or his two wonderful daughters, Lucy and Grace - I hadn’t sat on the sofa with her beloved dogs or had a chance to take my nephew Thoma to school. I hadn’t met her neighbours or gone for a walk to the local shops - the simple day-to-day things that make up our lives, and for me and Ellie this has been extra hard because our mum died when we were young and we are very close…

As a family we have given up our jobs and used our savings for the trip because we wanted to arrive in time for that wedding, it’s a trip of a lifetime for us and it’s an incredible opportunity to see our beautiful world up close and personal… So, we are not asking you to donate to our trip, paying for that was always our responsibility (although I don’t think any of us would mind if you wanted to buy us a cup of tea on a station platform somewhere on the way back :) …but if you think the issue of climate change is as important as we do and you want to donate the cost of a tree we will very happily use that money to plant trees when we get back home.

The reason we wanted to tell people about this trip is to inspire hope and possibility - not because one family travelling to Australia overland will change anything by ourselves, but things do change when we do them together, thinking about how to make a difference in all the different and creative ways we can, with as much kindness and humour as we can manage - that is worth doing!