Los rojitos

In March 2014, my partner Luis and I started travelling through Australia in our unmistakably on-road and urban Honda Jazz. This little red car (Rojito) will, we hope, take us west from Melbourne across to WA, north along the coast to Darwin and back down south over the next 6 months or so.

While others hire or buy a camper (and after a week on the road, we can see why!) we decided to take the road less travelled and do the trip using our family car and making full use of the Jazz's phenomenal tardis capabilities by squeezing all our gear in the two front seats and stuffing a lilo in the back.

This is both an economic decision and a personal challenge. We are on our way to live in Colombia (Luis' home) for a while and wanted to see some of Australia before we went. But seeing as we both quit our (day) jobs to do this, have a mortgage to pay and need our savings for our imminent relocation half way around the world, we are on a pretty tight budget.

We also both have a passion for alternative economics - a phrase I am probably misusing to refer to ways of creating, distributing and sharing value outside of the formal economy in ways that enable people and communities to meet their needs and generate income on their own terms, especially those excluded or disadvantaged by the formal economy.

(We met, as it happens, through Couchsurfing).

I also believe that the only just way out of our endlessly unfolding environmental catastrophe is to radically revalue material resources. That is, make the best possible use of what we have so we don't have to dig up/chop down/burn more.

So this trip is both an adventure in discovering Australia and the people who live and work here (outside inner Melbourne that is) and in exploring some of the potential of alternative economics.

As we go we are trying as far as possible to participate in exchange networks, make use of public services and public places and learn to value what we have.