It’s a year since Transparency Warrior Rex Patrick picked up a new caravan and began ‘working from roam’. He’s seen and learned a lot in that time, and now shares his experience.
Last month I spent several days sitting on the rim of a meteor crater in a very isolated part of outback NT. Today I file this article from the banks of the Yarrangobilly River in Kosciuszko National Park in NSW.
I’ve been on the road for a year, in a planned five-year sabbatical around Australia. After a year of travel I know, and have proven, that ‘work from roam’ is possible.
Work-from-roam. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick hits the road.
Technology enablers
Modern caravans are enablers to ‘work from roam’.
They are light (composite material), durable and comfortable inside can be fitted with the right equipment to keep an office running smoothly day by day. Sufficient solar (1.2 kilowatts) to refill the batteries, sufficient batteries (800 ampere hours) to keep the office and home running for an overcast week, and sufficient invertor capacity (3 kilowatts) to run the laptop, iPad, printer/scanner and phone charger and to allow for cooking (microwave, air fryer etc).
The inverter (to convert battery DC into appliance AC) must also be capable of running a good quality coffee machine. My coffee machine has proved valuable in reducing café costs, but priceless in facilitating a good pulled shot in the middle of nowhere.
Office Setup at Boxhole Crater, NT
On one occasion I ran out of battery charge,
but that was after eight days of almost continuous cloud and rain. I could have connected the caravan to the car to recharge it, but instead headed for a powered site at a caravan park.
With cooperating weather, I have pretty much stayed off grid for as long as I wanted to, with the limiting factor being the amount of fresh water I’m carrying (240 litres). Drinking, doing the dishes once a day, and having a wet-dry-wet shower can see me though for a fortnight. But many towns have water charging points where you can refill the caravan’s water tanks for free and then move on to your next off grid location.
Starlink is a real game changer. This is not an advertisement for Elon Musk, there are other satellite internet service providers on the way, but for now it is the system that allows high speed internet connection … everywhere. Whether it’s reading the news of a morning, tweeting, posting, emailing, watching a webinar, online television, conducting video conferences or streaming a movie, it’s possible from any remote site.
Roadside Zoom Call Hazards
When I’m away from mobile telephone service, which happens a lot, I can call another mobile phone on any internet-based communication app – Facetime Audio, Signal, WhatsApp or similar.
You can be miles from anywhere and everywhere at the same time.
A different outlook
Each week I’ve found a different location to set up my office; near a river, in a mountain range, inside a rain forest, or beside a beach.
I’ve submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from a high mountain pinnacle, drafted legal submissions in front of a waterfall and written for MWM by the side of a creek.
Office outlook at Dangar Falls near Dorrigo, NSW
The environment makes for wonderful free thought and inspiration.
And the price is right. The NSW National Park I’m staying is I pen this article is costing me $6 for a weeklong stay.
When I need to travel to a whistleblower conference, or to conduct an FOI course, I return from the beaten track to a city or regional town caravan park where I can leave the caravan and travel by plane.
It’s all very workable.
In my recent visit to the Grampians, it was work, waterfall, work, waterfall, work, waterfall.
Waterfall visits in the Grampians
Wolf Creek!
A common question I get from those unfamiliar with travelling adventures is whether I ever fear a “Wolf Creek” style incident occurring.
The answer is “no”.
When I’m staying in a caravan park (as I do every once in a while, to deal with large washing items like sheets and towels) I have only met friendly people; people who have travelled to the town I’m in to enjoy getting away from life’s stresses, and spending time with families.
And when I’m remote, I see few people or no-one. The chances of coming across an alcohol or ice-influenced aggressor in the wilderness are significantly less than the chances of the same thing occurring in the east-end of Adelaide city, from where I left departed.
I do enjoy watching and meeting people though. I tend to arrive at locations mid-week when very few other campers are about. I set up in a good location that will capture a lot of sun for solar generation. When the weekend comes the crowds turn up and I get to watch the adults choosing their spots; a space surrounded by trees for the tent camping couples, a location that’s suitable for corralling university students on break, or near the site near the playground or bike track for the families.
I can sit at my outside desk and work, while occasionally raising my head to watch adults starting a fire or engaging in the preparation of a feast. And I get the wonderful background sounds of kids laughing and having fun on their bikes, climbing trees, watching kangaroos and emus, or just making their own fun in the absence of a TV or an iPad.
And it’s good to chat with your camping neighbours, or those wandering by. People who stay at caravan parks, or national parks, or camp off-grid are often very interesting to listen to. And they’re always good for a tip on what to do in the place you’re visiting, or going to next.
Courting adventure
I’m a bit of a solivagant with people asking me about my isolation. “What about courting options”, they ask.
The answer to that is “better than ever”.
When I started in October 2025 I had two FOI matters in the Federal Court; one in relation the Albanese Government refusing to release Snowy 2.0 project cost and schedule performance information, and the another in relation to a report into where AUKUS nuclear waste could be stored.
I now have two matters in the High Court, one as a plaintiff and one as a respondent, and four matters in the Federal Court, two as the appellant and two as a respondent.
That’s probably an Australian record for a single person, but it’s a record also propped up by 5 matters in the Administrative Review Tribunal, 2 matters in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and 5 matters in the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Travelling in a caravan is great for courting.
Sunrises and sunsets
I’ll finish this 365-day review by talking about sunrises and sunsets.
Before bed I’ll often check the time of ‘first light’ and set my alarm accordingly to see the sun pop up on a distant horizon. And I’m often cooking a roast in the air fryer or a schnitzel on the induction cooktop when the sun goes down.
When out on the plains, or the fields, or high in the mountains, the sky in the morning or evening can be spectacular. They outclass city sunrise and sunset experiences.
And once the sun has disappeared the stars come out in a way that city folk cannot appreciate. And it’s particularly exiting to look up to those stars and have them all to yourself.
I often post on social media my work-from-roam location and its accompanying sunrise or sunset. Some people have expressed jealousy in the comments. But the intent of the post is not to create jealousy, rather to inspire.
Sunrise over the Macquarie Marshes
Work from roam is a treat and a real possibility for some. With a large and remarkably diverse country such as Australia, it’s something people should consider. I have no regrets.
Editor’s Note: what a legend, very tempted to do this.
Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and, earlier, a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is also known as the "Transparency Warrior."