The Norris’ Call
Hi, we’re Shaun and Sarah
Norris from “Norris around
Australia”, a website which
covers stories of camping, off-road
touring around Australia and everything in between.
We took our first off-road trip as
newlyweds back in 2010. While
Sarah had travelled around
Australia previously Shaun had
spent his holidays travelling overseas. This trip was to dip Shaun’s
toes in the water of life on the road
and to see if this was something we
could see ourselves undertaking in
a full-time capacity.
Our first trip was a 3 week journey
through Western Queensland in
our little Rav 4. The timing of the
trip coincided with the Birdsville
Races so the trip was automatically extended to see our little blue
Rav visit Birdsville. For those who
aren’t aware 2010 was the year the
Birdsville Races washed out. We
went from wondering how the
52
Offroading Online Magazine
Rav 4 would travel on the dry and
dusty corrugations, to slipping and
sliding our way there. This was our
introduction to off-road touring
and against all odds, we loved it.
This trip proved to us that you can
have a cracker time with the bare
essentials. Upon arrival home we
gave ourselves one year to pack up
and save like mad. We were then
going to hit the road indefinitely.
Some people at the time thought
we were crazy while others wished
they could do the same.
We started our blog soon after our
return from our first trip and
began to document our travel
inspirations, our trip planning
and telling our story. At first it
was purely for friends and family
and then somehow it snowballed.
As we began our travels we found
ourselves connecting with other
travellers and encouraging others
to get out and see Australia.