Family

Sep 7, 2023 ∞

Most of us, me included, can barely think past the next three minutes. We operate in this fear of lack, lack of good or sleep or money, that completely ignores the long arc of our life which gives us decades of evidence that we haven’t gone without yet, and all trend lines point to us being fine in the future.

That’s one of the elements of marriage I love so much.

In marriage you’re forced - by its very nature - to acknowledge that your life is far bigger than this three minute period of stress and anxiety we’re currently facing - in fact we have a whole life ahead of us, and considering that big picture, it’d be great to have someone else in it.

I’m so glad I got over myself long enough to realise that my big picture was missing you, Britt, thank you for making it so much better by simply being you.

Happy 11th anniversary xx

Aug 15, 2023 ∞

We’re packing and getting ready for our homeward journey tonight in Paris. We’ve got three flights left, and the longest ones just earned us a text message from Qantas letting us know that the four of us had been upgraded to business class (RIP my points balance). We’ve got a few nights in Singapore left and it’s back to the Southern Gold Coast after almost a year away.

So because I’m a big nerd, these are our family travel stats since we left home last September and listed our home on Airbnb:

Photos on my phone: 10,017
Days away from home: 354
Flight hours: 87
Airbnbs and hotel rooms: 52
Flights: 50
Airports: 23
Cars (rented/borrowed/owned): 17
Countries: 10
Boats: 3
Children: 2
Eurostars: 1
MacBooks that survived a glass of whisky being spilt on them: 0
Brown hairs left on my head: -6

Jul 25, 2023 ∞

Scissor me on parenting

In a story on the book ‘Welcome to Sex’, Amy Remeikis writes in The Guardian: The response to a sex education and consent book which was removed from the shelves of Big W stores shows how far Australia still has to go on sex education, a Senate committee inquiry has heard. Welcome to Sex, co-authored by the former Dolly Doctor and adolescent health expert Dr Melissa Kang and feminist writer Yumi Stynes, became the target of an online protest campaign.

Jul 25, 2023 ∞

📷🇮🇹 Our last Monday in Puglia

Jul 24, 2023 ∞

Thirteen eggs, four pregnancies, six years, and two children ago

I shared this on Facebook six years ago, on July 24, 2017: Something you probably don’t realise when you ask me to be your celebrant is that in celebrating your marriage, you’re gleaning a little from mine. As I prep for your ceremony I’m taking notes on you both and your definitions of marriage,m although the foundation of my belief of what marriage is and what it looks like in real life starts at home.

Jul 23, 2023 ∞

This is Luna, pitching you her idea for her new TV show. If you are a TV producer, Luna would like to sit down and talk about you buying the rights to her show.

Please, no tyre-kickers.

Jul 23, 2023 ∞

📷🇮🇹🚁 Fifteen of Monopoli’s best from my Mavic in Puglia yesterday

Jul 20, 2023 ∞

📷🇮🇹🏖️ Family day at the beach at Cala Maka. The beach is apparently/allegedly called Torre Canne Nord Prima della Casa Grigia, which translated from Italian means, North Canne Tower Before the Gray House, which is the most romantic beach name I’ve ever read.

Good luck ever naming a beach better than that.

Jul 19, 2023 ∞

Thought I would check on the two-year-old before going to bed …

Jun 30, 2023 ∞

Rate my desk (June 2023 edition)

For the past ten months, my and my family’s non-clothing and non-toiletries life has completely lived inside a Think Tank camera bag and it will do so for another 50 days. I took the opportunity this afternoon to do a quick audit, headcount, and make sure everything I was carrying was necessary, and inspired by the Hemispheric Views podcast segment ‘Rate my desk’ I thought I would submit my ‘desk away from home’ to the internets.

May 27, 2023 ∞

Withers on film in Hawaii

May 27, 2023 ∞

Withers on film at the TWA Hotel.

Man, I loved this hotel!

May 27, 2023 ∞

Withers in Mexico.

I found an undeveloped roll of film from our time in Baja California Sur. Missing Cerritos Beach!

May 27, 2023 ∞

Withers in Paris on 35mm film

Oct 4, 2022 ∞

We're off to Mexico and how we can stay in contact, a manifesto

My anxiety is of the opinion that none of you really care about me, contacting me or enjoying our family travels, if that’s so, please cease reading and thank you for confirming my deepest fears and anxieties. But, if you do wish to stay in contact with me and enjoy our photos and stories of lands far away, I have four notes for you: Every email address you have for me is wrong unless it is my name then an @ symbol then my last name, finishing with a .

Aug 21, 2022 ∞

Time to get off the hamster wheel: interview with Spencer Howson

Spencer Howson on 4BC Weekends invited me into the studio to explain why we’re moving to Mexico.

Aug 15, 2022 ∞

Muppets magic.

“I’d save every day like a treasure and then again I would spend them with you”

Cover of Jim Croce’s ‘Time In A Bottle’ as found on The Muppets in 1977. Also, weirdly, featured alongside another Muppet in an iPhone ad for the iPhone 6S and Siri.

Finally, how I feel about Britt. Love you xx

Aug 10, 2022 ∞

Answers to the 10 most common questions people ask about us moving to Mexico

Answering the most common questions I’ve been asked about Britt and I moving to Mexico with our two kids: When do you go? October 10, 2022, then I come back for a month’s work around Australia Nov-Dec and then I’m back in Mexico before Christmas. Where will you go? I’ll let you know when we get there. We’re going to float around and do some housesitting gigs and try to find our place in the country.

Aug 8, 2022 ∞

Ekka 2022

The Withers kids hit Brisbane’s Royal Queensland Show for 2022. All Luna wanted was a “Skye Puppy” from Paw Patrol.

Oct 24, 2021 ∞

Luna’s birthday week comes to a close. Now we have 51 weeks of mourning until her fourth birthday celebrations can begin.

Jul 2, 2021 ∞

Vale Alan James Snow

Today, Britt and I attended - remotely via live stream - the memorial service of her grandfather, Alan James Snow. Alan’s life story is wide ranging and interesting, from his time in the NSW Police through to his large and international legacy in his family. On the 1st of November 2013, while Alan was visiting his son in Queensland, I took the opportunity to record a podcast episode with him. I’ve always wanted to record the stories of people around us, but as often happens, time and priorities get in the way.

Mar 5, 2021 ∞

Goldie Grace Withers' birth

Britt and I are very pleased to introduce Goldie Grace Withers to the world. Just before 11am we were standing around the birthing centre cracking jokes, measuring and weighing everything, because Goldie was two weeks overdue, even talking about the possibility of inducing Britt. At 11am contractions started and by 12:28pm on the 2nd of March, 2021, Goldie was earthside weighing 4 kilograms and healthy as we’d hope for. We walked into the hospital at 9:18am after dropping Luna at kindy for the day, and walked back out at 5:45pm.

Mar 3, 2021 ∞

Let me introduce you to Goldie Grace Withers

No-one’s betting on a 2% chance of winning anything. If there’s a 2% chance of anything happening, that basically means the thing isn’t happening. Our doctor said there would be a 2% chance of us ever falling pregnant, and an even lower chance of us having two children. But by God’s grace we’ve won that lottery twice now, so I’d love to introduce you to our little girl born yesterday, 4kg and healthy as you could ever hope for, please say hello to Goldie Grace Withers.

Jan 5, 2021 ∞

👩‍🚀 I always wanted you to go into space, mannnn (photo not by Babylon Zoo, only the caption)

Jan 5, 2021 ∞

We can dance if we want to. We can leave your friends behind. Cause your friends don’t dance, and if they don’t dance, well, they’re no friends of mine.