Amazing adventures and nomadic experiences
By Jan & Johnny, Community Managers, Vantage Maleny
JACK Wilcox kindly asked Johnny and I to tell our story. So, make a coffee, and indulge in five minutes of magic.
We are the current Community Managers at Vantage Maleny, and of course, just like our beautiful residents, we have lived varied and interesting lives. We have left the distant past behind, as we are in the process of making the future.
We met nearly seven years ago in a place called Kooralbyn, at a karaoke party. I remember Johnny being a bit of a character that night, but something clicked and off we went.
We decided to combine our lifetime skills (of which there are too many to mention) and he asked me to run away with him to Victoria. So, off we went to manage a retirement village in Bacchus Marsh.
We fully integrated into the experience until COVID reared its ugly head, and Johnny being nomadic, said we have a caravan, pack up, we’re off! Can you imagine that? While everyone else was locking down, we decided to travel Australia. And what an adventure it was!
We ended up on the Spirit of Tasmania, two days before they shut the Tasmanian border and stayed there for 18 months. We worked in the most amazing places all over Tasmania, including Cradle Mountain, and out on the west coast at Corinna, and met the most amazing, welcoming people. We would sit around a campfire at night, in the wilderness of the West Coast and share our stories with the visitors who travelled through. We had seven wonderful months in Stanley at the top of Tasmania, house-sitting and restoring historical buildings.
The time came to leave Tasmania, so to the mainland we returned, and spent a year exploring and working in South Australia. Work took us to places we never imagined, including a remote stay at Arkaroola in the Northern Flinders Ranges where Johnny was project managing a runway for a uranium mine.
At the end of 2023, we decided to hang up the caravan shoes, realizing that what we enjoyed most was the community living experience.
So here we are at Vantage Maleny. For us, it is about the value we can add to the lives of our residents. We encourage all to practice respect and happiness, but most importantly, to share their stories and to be proud of where life has led them.