Practical Off-Grid Life

Practical Off-Grid Life Building off-grid from scratch in Far North Queensland 🌿 No mortgage. No grid. The real version mistakes, wins and everything in between.

Follow the journey with Scott & Sharon.

02/08/2026

The wild guinea fowl have officially adopted us… 😂

When they first started showing up, I never imagined they’d stay.

Now they’re here every day, helping themselves to the chickens’ food and acting like they’ve owned the place for years.

The funniest part? They’re completely wild. We don’t feed them separately, we never penned them, and yet they’ve decided this is home.

I’m pretty sure the chickens have accepted defeat.

📍 Silver Valley, Far North Queensland

01/08/2026

Step back in time at the John Moffat Festival.

Every year, the quiet historic town of Irvinebank comes alive to celebrate one of Far North Queensland’s most important pioneers.

John Moffat was a Scottish entrepreneur who transformed Irvinebank into a thriving tin-mining town during the late 1800s. At its peak, the town had thousands of residents, foundries, smelters, hotels and businesses supporting the booming mining industry.

Today, the festival celebrates that remarkable history with heritage displays, vintage machinery, classic vehicles, markets, live entertainment and the chance to wander one of Queensland’s best-preserved mining towns.

If you love Australian history, this is a weekend well worth experiencing.

📍 Irvinebank, Queensland

26/07/2026

The final stretch… home was finally in sight.

There’s something special about the last few hours of a road trip.

Every bridge feels familiar, every town gets closer to home, and suddenly the kilometres don’t seem so long anymore.

Along the way we spotted croc warning signs, stopped in at the El Arish Tavern, watched kangaroos grazing by the roadside and soaked up those beautiful Far North Queensland views one last time before arriving home.

Fun fact: The wetlands between Innisfail and Tully are home to estuarine crocodiles, which is why you’ll often see warning signs near rivers, creeks and bridges. They’re an important reminder that in Far North Queensland, wildlife is never far away.

2,000 kilometres…
One unforgettable road trip.

📍 El Arish, Queensland

14/07/2026

Every afternoon the guinea fowl wander through the property like they own the place.

They squawk, they strut around and they seem to know exactly how close they can get before the dogs completely lose interest in behaving. 😂

Today was no different. The dogs desperately wanted to chase them, while I spent the whole time reminding them to “leave it.”

Thankfully, the guinea fowl carried on with their daily patrol, the dogs behaved themselves, and everyone survived another episode of off-grid life.

Do your pets have a favourite “enemy” that visits your place? 😂

13/07/2026

Sometimes a bad day turns into a reminder that there are still amazing people out there.

After picking up a car, one of the tyres blew out on the highway. Thankfully, we managed to pull over safely, but we were left wondering what to do next.

Not long afterwards, Simon and Trish stopped to check if we were okay.

Simon happened to have an air compressor on the back of his ute. He checked all the tyres, changed the blown one and made sure Mum could continue the trip safely.

They didn’t know us. They didn’t have to stop. But they did.

Simon and Trish, thank you for your generosity and kindness. We won’t forget it.

11/07/2026

We thought we’d save a bit of time by taking the shortcut from Irvinebank to Silver Valley.

Instead, we found ourselves on a two-way dirt road over Mount Misery with actual highway signs pointing the way. 😂

Somehow the “shortcut” took a lot longer than expected, but we couldn’t stop laughing by the end of it.

That’s the funny thing about Far North Queensland… sometimes the road you didn’t plan on taking ends up being the one you remember.

Has anyone else driven over Mount Misery?

Address

El Arish, QLD
4855

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