‘I wash my hair in rain water and our only neighbours are kangaroos’ – British mum’s off-grid life in the Australian outback
Victoria Bowness, 35, swapped her modern Manchester home for a simple dome house in Australia
A BRITISH mum-of-one has revealed how she turned her back on life in Manchester to raise her daughter in an eco-dome tent in Australia.
Victoria Bowness, 35, originally from Macclesfield, now lives on a mountain in the outback, after she and her Australian partner Johnny Clapham, 27, decided to live planet-friendly and off-grid.
Swapping her modern city home for a simple dome house, the couple have two travel for two hours to buy food, and are nearly four hours away from the nearest city of Brisbane.
Instead of turning on the taps, Victoria purifies water to wash in and uses solar energy for electricity - all within their 120-acre plot in the wilderness.
Victoria spent her early twenties living in Manchester's fashionable Northern Quarter while working in a high-flying marketing firm.
But the mum admits she was always desperate to escape the fast paced lifestyle for something more relaxed, and to become more eco-friendly and environmentally-conscious in the process.
Victoria told the : "For as long as I can remember I always wanted to know what was beyond where I was - I was always looking for something more."
After her mum Christine passed away when she was just 24, the Manchester Met University graduate said she was spurred on to live her 'life to the fullest', moving three years later to Australia.
There, in Sydney, Victoria met Johnny, a landscape gardener, and they made plans to settle down together when she fell pregnant six months into their relationship.
With house prices in Sydney soaring through the roof - with one bedroom flats selling for as much as £700,000 - they knew they'd have to come up with an alternative place to live.
So when Victoria gave birth to daughter Anaya 14 months ago, the family moved from Sydney and with 'nothing to lose', started looking for a plot of land far from the city.
Eventually they came across space in the middle of a mountain, three-and-a-half hours away from the city centre and a ten minute drive from the nearest property.
"Most people come out here when they need a break, it's space for the weekend. We didn't want a life that we needed space from. We wanted to live together as a family", she said.
The couple invested in a geodesic dome which they now live in, between spending time travelling the coast in their Toyota Coastal van.
With no roaring traffic, aeroplanes overhead or hustle bustle of people, Victoria says the only noises in the outback are from their 'kangaroo neighbours', deer and other wild animals.
And rather than going shopping or ordering food for a night in front of the TV, the family spend their time sitting together, walking and talking.
Though the pair do stay in touch with the modern world as, despite living so remotely, they are connected to a 4G network which allows the pair to talk with friends in the city.
It's a useful connection for Victoria, who now works as a social media consultant, advising small business on how to best target their audience.
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My job lends itself to this lifestyle. We want to inspire people as well. You don't have to go into an office. With the internet, you can work anywhere in the world," she added.
Johnny spends time renovating the home and the surrounding land, but the couple plan to soon open a business together, all from the comfort of their outback home.
As for little Anaya, the British mum says she is 'happy and thriving', adding: "She's never been ill. I just want to show her you can have a fulfilling life."
In order to inspire others to give it a go, and not just her daughter, Victoria documents their alternative lifestyle on an page.
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