For as long as I can remember, it was always my dream to jump in a van with my kelpie x dingo (Toby) and travel around Australia whilst playing music everywhere and anywhere... But as life would have it, I was thrown stacks of wonderful (and a few "not so wonderful") opportunities that stopped me from living out that dream - that was until September 2013.
Adam and I met at a mutual friends gig in Perth. The sparks flew instantly as we talked about how much we both loved music and travelling. After a brief conversation that involved me mentioning I wasn't into diamond rings and having babies, we high-fived and started planning our trip around OZ.
In May 2014 we set off on our "What dreams are made of" tour. There was no end date in sight, just a list of places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. Armed with my music and Adam's brilliant photography skills, our plan was for me to play music and for him to document everything along the way so we could put together the most amazing video of our time on the road. Adam would always bring his guitar out at our little campfire jams and we had so much fun playing together, that after a few of my solo shows, it felt weird for Adam to just be sitting in the audience - so from then on we performed as a duo.
We travelled North from Perth and the duo was going so well that for the first 6 months of our trip we managed to break even without dipping into our savings. We were surfing and climbing waterfalls by day, and gigging/camping under the stars by night. We often had to pinch ourselves to make sure we weren't dreaming. We played so many different kinds of shows, from festivals, to pubs, house concerts, caravan parks, horse races - you name it. We even played a private event to some high flyers under a boab tree and the magical stars of the Kimberleys.
After about six months of being on the road - and not much phone reception, we decided to stay in Broome for a few weeks to catch up on everything that was happening in the "real world" and that's when things kind of took a bit of a strange turn for me...
I found myself checking Facebook way too often and started to compare myself to everyone on social media. I was so caught up in what everyone else was doing and achieving, that I completely lost sight of who I was, and what was important to me. After a while I felt like giving up on everything - music included. I spiraled really quickly, but luckily my beautiful partner Adam dragged me out of the huge black hole I had fallen into and reminded me of all the things I had already achieved and how much more I had to offer. He told me I just needed to keep on going. Those words really struck a chord with me and over the next day or so I penned a song called "Keep On".
Initially I wrote "Keep On", purely for myself as a reminder to never give up on my dreams, but the more I played it at my shows, the more I felt it connecting with people for all different kinds of reasons. It gave me the confidence to believe that what I had to offer as a songwriter was important and that this could really be my little way of giving back to the world.
Over the next year, our travels took us up to Darwin, down to Alice Springs, and through to Adelaide, and we continued playing shows here, there and everywhere. We ventured through Victoria, and into NSW, until we finally arrived in beautiful Byron Bay. After spending six weeks in Byron, I decided that it was time for me to bring my music to the East coast. We headed back to Perth, sold/gave away most of our belongings and hit the road again - this time focusing on the East Coast.
In the last 12 months I have continued to tour this beautiful country of ours and I wouldn't change a thing. I have penned many songs in my time on the road and feel so blessed that my music has taken me to all corners of this wonderful land. I truly believe that life is what you make it and it's so important to take the time to learn about everything you can - especially yourself. So on that note...
Be Healthy - Be Happy - Karin Page
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