We met when we were just seventeen. Two teenagers who loved each other, loved adventure, and dreamed about seeing more of the world. In our early twenties we travelled a little, exploring parts of Australia and spending a few weeks in the USA. Even then, the dream was always bigger. New places, new foods, new cultures, new experiences.
But life moved quickly. We had our first daughter at twenty-five, our second at twenty-six, and our son at twenty-eight. Three kids in three years meant our world became busy, beautiful, chaotic, and full. Travel was not something we even thought about. We were simply trying to keep up.
We worked hard. We built homes, moved towns, and created a life from the ground up. My husband worked full time from the age of sixteen, and I worked full time around pregnancies, babies, and part time seasons. Before kids, we loved golf. Weekends at the driving range, dreaming about courses we would play one day. But life got in the way, and years passed without either of us picking up a club.
Then everything changed.
In October 2025, after years of long night shifts and being away from home, my husband reached a breaking point. Working in the mines had taken a huge toll on him physically, mentally, and emotionally. He could not do it anymore.
At the same time, my own mental health had been slipping. I felt like I was living the same day on repeat. Work, parenting, cooking, cleaning, sleep, repeat. I felt stuck. I felt like I had no purpose beyond surviving the week. Every time we went away for a weekend, I would think, I could live here. Anywhere felt better than the hot, isolated country town we were in.
So when my husband told me he was leaving the mines, the very first thought that came to me was simple and clear. Sell the house. Leave. Start again.
For the first time, it felt possible.
Not long after, my husband rediscovered golf. It grounded him. It gave him something to look forward to. It reminded us of who we were before life got heavy. And that is when the idea truly began to take shape.
Why not travel? Why not play golf around the world? Why not show our kids the world instead of telling them about it? Why not document everything, the courses, the food, the destinations, the real costs, the real moments? Why not build something together?
And then the question that changed everything. If not now, when?
We are still young enough. Our kids still love spending time with us. And I do not want them entering high school only to be shaped by systems we do not believe in. Bullying, pressure, learning things they will never use, losing themselves before they even know who they are.
That is how Fairway Footprints began. Not on the road, but in the middle of a life we decided to change.