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The Art of Free Travel: A Frugal Family Adventure
Patrick, Meg and their family had built a happy, sustainable life in regional Victoria. But in late 2013 they found themselves craving an a road trip. But theirs was a road trip with a difference. With Zephyr (11), Woody (1) and Zero their Jack Russell, they set off on an epic 6,000km year-long cycling journey along Australia’s east coast, from Daylesford to Cape York and back. Their aim was to live as cheaply as possible – guerrilla camping, hunting, foraging and bartering their permaculture skills, and living on a diet of free food, bush tucker, and the occasional fresh roadkill. They spent time in Aboriginal communities, joined an anti-fracking blockade, documented edible plants, and dodged speeding cars and trucks on the country’s most dangerous highways. The Art of Free Travel is the remarkable story of a rule-breaking year of ethical living.
264 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2015
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202 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 14, 2023
Originally written for readingproject.neocities.org
You are stuck in a rat race: work, home, sleep, repeat. You don’t have time for yourself. You are dependent on the system so much that you don’t even know how to survive by yourself anymore. You get your food at the supermarket. How did it get there? No clue. All the supplies you need to live come from somebody else. You work, work, work, but for what? To do more shopping? You are empty, frustrated, and demotivated.
You want to change something, to get in touch with yourself, to go on an adventure in the wilderness. But you overthink — it’s too crazy, and you would never manage to do it. Or you are just afraid.
We all sometimes need a little push, and this book will give you a breath of fresh air and motivate you to take the first step towards change, since the events in this book are so epic.
The Art of Free Travel: A Frugal Family Adventure is a travelogue about the magnificent adventure of Artist as Family, the family consisting of Patrick Jones, Meg Ulman, their sons Zephyr (11) and Woody (1), and their dog Zero. You see, they were living a happy, low-carbon life on their quarter-acre permaculture plot in Victoria, but they needed an adventure to get in touch even more with their inner selves.
In November 2013, they embarked on an epic 6,000km year-long cycling adventure along Australia’s east coast, from Daylesford to Cape York and back. Wow! But this was not a vacation; they didn’t sleep in hotels or eat in restaurants. Instead, they were living a frugal life: they were hunting and foraging for food, guerrilla camping in beautiful nature, living their lives on bush tucker, fresh roadkill, and fishing. They met many people who opened their doors and their hearts to them, allowing the spirit of learning, understanding, and tolerance to follow this expedition all the way to the end.
Artist as Family are eco-activists and are living the values of real respect for nature and humans, and the best way to do so, it seems, is to be independent and know yourself. During their trip, they visited various Aboriginal communities, each time asking for permission to stay on their land and use resources only as needed. No exploitation of the land — just to feed, wash themselves, and sleep. As permaculturists and homesteaders, they wanted to document edible plants and other bush tuckers that are available in nature. It’s amazing how much food you can get from nature, but only if you know how to recognize it. Unfortunately, many of us lost those skills since we live in cities and get our food mostly from supermarkets.
During their trip, they contemplated the ecological situation of Australia and the whole capitalist system and realized how the whole Australian country depends on fossil fuels, the exploitation of natural resources, and, as a result, people. Dodging the cars and trucks on the dangerous roads didn’t help either.
What I loved about this book was its honesty. The trip was not easy. There were bike malfunctions. Sometimes no water was available. The family was tired. Sometimes lost, they would fight, and they were just unsure of their choices. I mean, they were traveling with a one-year-old, Woody. I would never imagine it, and they actually did it. Speak about motivation and strength! Bravo! Meg and Jones present in this book the good and the bad. And I loved it, because that’s how we grow — we get into a challenge, and we do the best we can. If we are mindful, we talk about what happened and how we did it. If there is something to change in the future, we note it down and do the best we can next time. There were many good moments in this trip, and they celebrated it with huge smiles and gratitude towards the land and people.
Artist as Family are inspiring people. Spearfishing, foraging plants, meeting people, respecting their environment, and various skills that allow them to harvest and prepare the resources are just mind-blowing, and they awakened the spirit of change in me. The biggest lesson of the book is that we need to change ourselves in order to make this world a better place and to stop the catastrophe that we are bringing to ourselves. The whole system is organized in a way that is hurting nature and people. But we, as humans, don’t need much. Artist as Family prove it with their daily lives. They inspire me to create, not to consume. On my side, I will start with fixing my pants. The button broke, and I bought another, but I don’t know how to install it. I wanted to ask my mother-in-law to do it for me. After reading this book, I will try to do it myself.
You are stuck in a rat race: work, home, sleep, repeat. You don’t have time for yourself. You are dependent on the system so much that you don’t even know how to survive by yourself anymore. You get your food at the supermarket. How did it get there? No clue. All the supplies you need to live come from somebody else. You work, work, work, but for what? To do more shopping? You are empty, frustrated, and demotivated.
You want to change something, to get in touch with yourself, to go on an adventure in the wilderness. But you overthink — it’s too crazy, and you would never manage to do it. Or you are just afraid.
We all sometimes need a little push, and this book will give you a breath of fresh air and motivate you to take the first step towards change, since the events in this book are so epic.
The Art of Free Travel: A Frugal Family Adventure is a travelogue about the magnificent adventure of Artist as Family, the family consisting of Patrick Jones, Meg Ulman, their sons Zephyr (11) and Woody (1), and their dog Zero. You see, they were living a happy, low-carbon life on their quarter-acre permaculture plot in Victoria, but they needed an adventure to get in touch even more with their inner selves.
In November 2013, they embarked on an epic 6,000km year-long cycling adventure along Australia’s east coast, from Daylesford to Cape York and back. Wow! But this was not a vacation; they didn’t sleep in hotels or eat in restaurants. Instead, they were living a frugal life: they were hunting and foraging for food, guerrilla camping in beautiful nature, living their lives on bush tucker, fresh roadkill, and fishing. They met many people who opened their doors and their hearts to them, allowing the spirit of learning, understanding, and tolerance to follow this expedition all the way to the end.
Artist as Family are eco-activists and are living the values of real respect for nature and humans, and the best way to do so, it seems, is to be independent and know yourself. During their trip, they visited various Aboriginal communities, each time asking for permission to stay on their land and use resources only as needed. No exploitation of the land — just to feed, wash themselves, and sleep. As permaculturists and homesteaders, they wanted to document edible plants and other bush tuckers that are available in nature. It’s amazing how much food you can get from nature, but only if you know how to recognize it. Unfortunately, many of us lost those skills since we live in cities and get our food mostly from supermarkets.
During their trip, they contemplated the ecological situation of Australia and the whole capitalist system and realized how the whole Australian country depends on fossil fuels, the exploitation of natural resources, and, as a result, people. Dodging the cars and trucks on the dangerous roads didn’t help either.
What I loved about this book was its honesty. The trip was not easy. There were bike malfunctions. Sometimes no water was available. The family was tired. Sometimes lost, they would fight, and they were just unsure of their choices. I mean, they were traveling with a one-year-old, Woody. I would never imagine it, and they actually did it. Speak about motivation and strength! Bravo! Meg and Jones present in this book the good and the bad. And I loved it, because that’s how we grow — we get into a challenge, and we do the best we can. If we are mindful, we talk about what happened and how we did it. If there is something to change in the future, we note it down and do the best we can next time. There were many good moments in this trip, and they celebrated it with huge smiles and gratitude towards the land and people.
Artist as Family are inspiring people. Spearfishing, foraging plants, meeting people, respecting their environment, and various skills that allow them to harvest and prepare the resources are just mind-blowing, and they awakened the spirit of change in me. The biggest lesson of the book is that we need to change ourselves in order to make this world a better place and to stop the catastrophe that we are bringing to ourselves. The whole system is organized in a way that is hurting nature and people. But we, as humans, don’t need much. Artist as Family prove it with their daily lives. They inspire me to create, not to consume. On my side, I will start with fixing my pants. The button broke, and I bought another, but I don’t know how to install it. I wanted to ask my mother-in-law to do it for me. After reading this book, I will try to do it myself.
December 22, 2015
This book caught my attention in a bookshop as I shopped for Christmas gifts. It was an unusual choice for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished it in couple of days. Patrick and Meg describe in detail their family's cycling road trip of 6000 km (from country Victoria to Cape York). Along the way they resourcefully camp, fish and forage. Good descriptions of foraged fare abound, as do details of the interesting and generous people they meet along the way. My familiarity with many of the places the family visit added extra richness to the reading. This is an unusual and interesting (true) adventure story, offering insight into the ideals of people living a life very different to my own. I loved it.
March 30, 2016
I finished this book very inspired to do something, and not let things stop us.
November 26, 2018
The Art of Free Travel is a super cute, inspiring, and wholesome read. I've been following Artist as Family for a few years on and off, and love their ethos. So when I learned that they'd ridden up and down the east coast of Australia with their whole family on board, my mind was blown. I bought the book a few years ago but have only just got around to reading it.
The story of their ride was broken up into journey legs, with either Patrick or Meg narrating. I definitely preferred Meg's chapters, as Patrick's were a little bit more self-involved. But either way the message was a good one (i.e. one that agrees with my world views!), and I loved hearing about all of the knowledge gathering on free-growing foodstuffs, as well as just taking pleasure in feeling through their beautiful struggle. The idea of checking out from your rigidly defined life for not only a few days or a week, but 400 days- and working your butt off for it- is heartening. All those cliches about 'anything worth doing is worth doing slowly/properly' come to mind. It also tells a wonderful story of the love connection, of family resilience and consciousness; stories that I don't feel we hear often, or even see enough in our own lives.
I didn't think it was a particularly gripping piece of writing, as it was pretty rushed. If it had included more lingering detail, such as the chapter on Palm Island, it would have impacted harder. I felt like I yearned for more of an ode to this amazing country from it. But I also acknowledge that it is one hell of an experience to fit into one lil book, and am just grateful to have been exposed to that kind of furious dedication and positivity. It was the journey itself that was the masterpiece, this book is basically just the blurb.
The story of their ride was broken up into journey legs, with either Patrick or Meg narrating. I definitely preferred Meg's chapters, as Patrick's were a little bit more self-involved. But either way the message was a good one (i.e. one that agrees with my world views!), and I loved hearing about all of the knowledge gathering on free-growing foodstuffs, as well as just taking pleasure in feeling through their beautiful struggle. The idea of checking out from your rigidly defined life for not only a few days or a week, but 400 days- and working your butt off for it- is heartening. All those cliches about 'anything worth doing is worth doing slowly/properly' come to mind. It also tells a wonderful story of the love connection, of family resilience and consciousness; stories that I don't feel we hear often, or even see enough in our own lives.
I didn't think it was a particularly gripping piece of writing, as it was pretty rushed. If it had included more lingering detail, such as the chapter on Palm Island, it would have impacted harder. I felt like I yearned for more of an ode to this amazing country from it. But I also acknowledge that it is one hell of an experience to fit into one lil book, and am just grateful to have been exposed to that kind of furious dedication and positivity. It was the journey itself that was the masterpiece, this book is basically just the blurb.
January 14, 2019
My bike Cletta and I look forward to doing some bicycle touring and The Art of Free Travel was the perfect inspiration. I loved how honest Meg and Patrick were about the ups and downs of doing this kind of travel – and they did it with a baby and a puppy!
June 3, 2018
Inspiring!
March 23, 2019
I like that it was told by both perspectives.
It read easily. Their ignorance about chemistry annoyed me quite a bit
It read easily. Their ignorance about chemistry annoyed me quite a bit
July 19, 2020
Love this travel adventure. What freedom to be on the road foraging as you go! Great foraging food list at the end of the book. Patrick and Meg are both engaging writers! Loved it
March 30, 2020
Inspiring story from a family who truly live a meaningful and beautiful life rigidly structured by their morels. Also terrifically written by Meg and Patrick
May 14, 2016
Patrick and Meg have an easy style of writing, and can, where they want to, bring you into their lives and give you a depth of understanding about alternative lifestyles and environmental choices to a less of a consumer life.
Where they fail, however, is in the tale of the traveller and of the places they visited, and even minor information regarding those places -- it's as if they visited from one name-dropped places to another, and from the way they spell out whole names, almost as if they were receiving payment if they named certain people during the course of their book. (Nobody famous; just -- we went to A and visited Firstname Lastname... who were almost always pleasant, of course.)
For example, we're dropped into their events at Bentley, where they participated in the blockade -- while you get a bit of the happenings behind it, there is no exploration of the issues behind the blockade. One moment they're on the road, and then BAM--blockade, apparently out of nowhere. (Which was a community blockade against drilling for gas in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.)
It's the parts of Victoria and NSW where the writing is the weakest -- as if the areas with which they are most familiar and the places they were going to (Bellingen, Bentley, Northern Rivers area) with the alternative living styles, because they are familiar with them, they felt no apparent need to explore these places in words, and familiarise their readers with those places. Bellingen, for example, was host to the Burning Man Festival in 2010, and upon my visit there on bicycle before that, was obviously a haven of permaculture and sustainable living -- as demonstrated by a number of the buildings there.
You can definitely get the feel of how exhausted they were at a number of trips, and that they met some interesting people; it's just that this book is a thin, skeletal outline of their trip, which is a pity, because their writing is solid, and it could have very much been a better exploration of Eastern Australia -- in Indigenous history, which they obviously took interest in with their visits to Indigenous communities in Queensland, and in the peoples around them with whom they visited. Instead it is a parade of names, with truly very little about the travails of cycle touring, which is a real pity.
Where they fail, however, is in the tale of the traveller and of the places they visited, and even minor information regarding those places -- it's as if they visited from one name-dropped places to another, and from the way they spell out whole names, almost as if they were receiving payment if they named certain people during the course of their book. (Nobody famous; just -- we went to A and visited Firstname Lastname... who were almost always pleasant, of course.)
For example, we're dropped into their events at Bentley, where they participated in the blockade -- while you get a bit of the happenings behind it, there is no exploration of the issues behind the blockade. One moment they're on the road, and then BAM--blockade, apparently out of nowhere. (Which was a community blockade against drilling for gas in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.)
It's the parts of Victoria and NSW where the writing is the weakest -- as if the areas with which they are most familiar and the places they were going to (Bellingen, Bentley, Northern Rivers area) with the alternative living styles, because they are familiar with them, they felt no apparent need to explore these places in words, and familiarise their readers with those places. Bellingen, for example, was host to the Burning Man Festival in 2010, and upon my visit there on bicycle before that, was obviously a haven of permaculture and sustainable living -- as demonstrated by a number of the buildings there.
You can definitely get the feel of how exhausted they were at a number of trips, and that they met some interesting people; it's just that this book is a thin, skeletal outline of their trip, which is a pity, because their writing is solid, and it could have very much been a better exploration of Eastern Australia -- in Indigenous history, which they obviously took interest in with their visits to Indigenous communities in Queensland, and in the peoples around them with whom they visited. Instead it is a parade of names, with truly very little about the travails of cycle touring, which is a real pity.
June 24, 2016
Okay read. Style was a bit annoying. Especially if you have undertaken similar adventures. Not sure why I bought it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2016
I borrowed this on Bolinda, and enjoyed it immensely- I love the writing style, easy read, and the tales of their adventure.
June 9, 2025
Really interesting. Enjoyable. Thought provoking. Could have done without the swearing & sexual references, though.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews