My wife, Narelle, and I, along with our young daughters, Willow and Ivy, are passionate about tiny living and minimizing our impact on the beautiful planet we call home. We’ve chosen to live off-grid in our 40ft Hino bus, lovingly named Sonny. This lifestyle is more than just a choice; it’s a commitment to a sustainable future for our children and a testament to the joy of living with less.

We didn’t always live this way. We were once a typical family—married with a mortgage, two kids, and a dog—but we were unhappy. Our lives felt like an endless cycle of working just to keep a roof over our heads, with the little spare time we had spent pleasing others. Quality family time was scarce. We realized that to improve our lives and spend more time together, we needed to cut our biggest expenses—the house, mortgage, power bills, water bills, and council rates—which were dragging us into a deep depression. After Narelle lost her father to suicide, we knew we couldn’t risk continuing down a path of unhappiness. We decided to take a leap, figuring that the worst-case scenario would be returning to a 9-5 job, which didn’t seem so bad.

Having been together since we were 14, we had often dreamed and joked about living in a bus and embracing a ‘hippy’ lifestyle. When we crunched the numbers, it turned out to be more affordable than we expected. Before long, we bought our bus, Sonny, which was still full of seats and chewing gum, and began stripping it out. With our kids just 1 and 2 years old at the time, finding spare time was a challenge, but where there’s a will, there’s a way!

After six months of working on the bus in our spare time, I (Landon) became increasingly depressed in my job as an electrician. We began thinking about how we could sustain living in the bus, leading us to the idea of working at caravan parks. This would allow us to stay together as a family, which was our main goal. With some major expenses still ahead to make the bus livable, I quit my job, and we moved to the Flinders Ranges in outback South Australia, where we worked as assistant managers at a caravan park (Rawnsley Park Station). We spent over a year there before moving to another caravan park near Lakes Entrance, VIC, all the while working on the bus during our days off. Whether our kids were clinging to our legs like koalas or riding in the work utes collecting rubbish bins, working together as a family was the most beautiful part of it. I got to spend every day with my girls, savoring every moment.

It was during the planning of our electrical system that everything clicked—I realized there was a lack of accessible advice and help in this area. Drawing on my electrical background, I dedicated myself to learning various electrical designs, wiring standards, and ultimately building our off-grid system. Our setup began on a budget, with second-hand solar panels and near-end-of-life AGM batteries, but it worked and got us through. Over time, we upgraded to new solar panels and a lithium battery bank.

Since then, we’ve occasionally worked in caravan parks and as an electrician while building Zero Grid into what it is today. We’ve established relationships with suppliers and, most importantly, helped others transition to off-grid living. We’ve been living in our bus, off-grid, for almost four years now, and we’re still in love with this life. Who knows when bus life will end and when the next adventure will start? But one thing is certain: all those long nights working hard on the bus, building it into our home, were worth it. Happiness is out there—you just need to chase it!

If you’re feeling lost, stuck in your current life, and interested in this way of living, feel free to reach out and have a chat. I know what it’s like and how hard it can be.

Thanks for taking the time to read our story, we would love to be apart of yours!

Cheers, Landon