Could you trade your house for a bus?

The Cairns family is not just unusual for having 11 children – they are also one of a growing number of families choosing life on the road instead of in suburbia.

In an interview with Sunday Night, Peter and Allison Cairns explained how they chose to sell their home, shut their business and hit the road 10 years ago and never looked back.

Now 13-strong, the family are strong advocates for breaking the mold of traditional family life.

"You could say we are very different people now, but looking back it's the best decision we've ever made, as the memories we have are priceless," Peter said.

"We wouldn't swap our memories for a trillion dollars."

Peter said they were stressed and overworked trying to provide for their then five kids, build their dream home and run their refrigeration and air-conditioning business.
"It was a combination of all these emotions and pressures, it was overwhelming and we were both suffering from bad depression.

"We wanted a life with our kids, we wanted to be selfish."

It would take Peter a couple of years to find the right bus and remodel it into a home with wheels.

When they finally left their house for good their first son Peter Jr was just two days old.

"It was while I was working at a caravan park one day fixing a nice lady's air con, that I seriously started to think about travel, she planted a seed in my head that day to go explore Australia, we always wanted to, but just never did."

"That was the day the urge was ignited and the day I took the family to look at our first bus."