Six years ago, Sheree Willems, her husband Paul and three of their children, embarked on the journey of a lifetime.
They left their nine-to-five jobs, sold their belongings and joined a growing "cruising families" movement who have swapped suburbia for sailing the high seas.
Before selling their suburban house in Perth, the family learnt to sail and bought their boat, Solur, outright.
They've been cruising the Western Australian coastline completely off the grid ever since.
"We had a typical mortgage, two cars and were very busy with activities and work," Ms Willems said.
"We didn't have time to spend with the kids. We didn't have time to take a holiday together.
Change takes time
The couple had always loved the "concept" of sailing but never thought of making their dream of living on a sailing boat a reality until retirement.
"Then there came that moment where we just thought, 'well, why not now?'," the mother of five said.
"The process to get here has taken almost seven years between planning and buying a boat, and then moving on board."
Ms Willems started the journey as a sailing novice by trying the sport for the first time at age 30.
"We decided that we'd take some sailing lessons and then the hunt started for a boat," she said.
"We asked a lot of cruisers who were currently sailing with kids what we needed in a boat because we had no idea.
"Every year, we'd push ourselves to sail a little bit further and a little bit wider and take a little bit more time off work, until we got to the point where we felt that we could sail indefinitely."
Online community provides guidance
An international online community of about 7,000 sailing families have proved invaluable for the family.
"We're all on a map so we can see where each other are," Ms Willems said.
"We also have an Australian sailing group, which has about 700 families, we have the option to have a shared map and check-in points so we can connect in different ports.
"Often, since we're moving with the weather, groups of boats will move together."
Ms Willems, a bookkeeper, and her husband Paul, a software developer, are able to work from the boat.
"We use solar power to run all of our computers to do our work [from the boat]."
Time for some adventures
After a separation eight months ago, single father James Brougham has also been bitten by the sailing bug and lives aboard his boat dubbed Salty Jocks with his two young daughters.
"With the rental market the way it is in Perth, it's pretty hard," Mr Brougham said.
"I thought I'm going to bloody learn how to sail and we're going to go on adventures.
"My daughter Isla was about 11 months old when we moved onto the boat. She learnt to walk on the boat."
Mr Brougham, who is preparing to set off to the Abrolhos Islands in a convoy, said life onboard with two young children had been a "steep learning curve".
"I've learnt about solar, maintaining, weatherproofing, and restoring the boat.
"We've spent quite a bit of time sailing out to Garden Island and Carnac Island and [taken] photos of the girls with seals [and done] a fair bit of fishing.
"We spend quite a bit of time just out on the water and it's just us and it's been really nice.
"Most dads don't get to spend so much of the younger years with their kids.
"I really wanted this, and I didn't care if it was going to be hard."
Home-schooling is challenging but rewarding
While life onboard with three children could get a bit cramped, Ms Willems said she often sent the kids "out in the dinghy" when they got on each other's nerves.
"My kids have had to learn to play like we did in our childhood," she said.
"They may not have access to technology or [the] internet all the time.
"They have to learn to entertain themselves when they're bored."
Ms Williems homeschools the children through the School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE).
"I'm still learning how to navigate different aged kids doing different things," she said.
"But instead of learning about history from a book, we can learn about history as we walk the land, and we can actually see and touch things; it just makes the process of learning more organic."
Ms Willems' 17-year-old daughter Chanelle recently finished her year 12 studies onboard and will take time off the boat to study at Murdoch University.
Two other older children have lived on and off the boat over the past six years.
'Incredible' experiences money can't buy
Ms Willems said the family had shared some "incredible" experiences.
"And that's just an experience you couldn't pay for it. It's just part of boat life. It's amazing.
"We've had everything from incredible sunsets to insane storms."
She said the family would call the boat home for the next 15 to 20 years.
They are getting ready for a sail to Exmouth and then onto Indonesia.
"I can't see us coming back to typical nine-to-five routines until our health demands [that]," she said.
"We will stay out here as long as we are enjoying it."
