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Both in their 30s, they left their life in Melbourne to embrace the freedom and adventure of the open road, towing a quirky caravan and bringing speciality coffee to outback communities.

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Nomadic coffee 'van life' couple grinds to a halt in PortMac
Both in their 30s, they left their life in Melbourne to embrace the freedom and adventure of the open road, towing a quirky caravan and bringing speciality coffee to outback communities.

Young, adventurous and enterprising couple Jess Davidson and Andy Hoffman quit their jobs to follow a dream more than a year ago.

"We loved camping so every weekend and chance we could, we would go out in our campervan, adventuring," Ms Davidson said.

"It got to the point where we thought why can't do this all the time, not just on weekends?

"Being from Melbourne, where it is pretty saturated with coffee — and great coffee at that — we sometimes found it was hard to find a good cup of coffee when travelling in our van."

Building an outback following

Ms Davidson and Mr Hoffman decided they could combine their two loves and take the beans on the road with them, bringing coffee to towns where a good brew was hard to find or where there were no cafes.

The risk paid off, and the couple found a following in rural and remote communities.

For 14 months they travelled — primarily through New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory — in an old pop-top campervan, towing their unique vintage-looking caravan.

They planned their travels carefully, following the sun and tapping into events in regional areas and targeting towns where a good coffee brew was harder to find.

"We spent nine months planning; we really wanted to be in certain areas in certain times and follow the good weather," Ms Davidson said.

"We were probably most well received in the outback, where there are not a lot of good cafes [and] all you have is roadhouse coffee, which is not the best.

"That was probably our favourite part of our travels, out there in the middle of nowhere.

"We did build a following of travellers who would sometimes even change their travel plans to follow our route [and] lots of people overtook us as we travelled quite slowly, but gave us waves and beeps and smiles."

Ms Davidson said the couple loved the van life — having a new place to call home each week.

"The people you meet in that travelling community on the road were quite inspiring people and getting out of a routine and adventuring every day," she said.

Challenges of daily grind

There were some challenges while on the road including managing coffee deliveries, with supplies coming from a Melbourne roaster.

"Not being in the one place for very long made it difficult when it came to dealing with coffee suppliers and things like that," Mr Hoffman said.

"We only ever had one late delivery, which was to Mt Isa. It was a four-week journey for our coffee to get from Melbourne to Mt Isa."

Ms Davidson said they also encountered some very pricey milk.

"Daly Waters Pub in the middle of the Northern Territory was our most expensive milk purchase," she said.

"It was $5.60 per two-litre milk, plus freight on top, so we had $6 two-litre milks there."

'Round and round, through the streets of your town'

The couple's business name, Round & Round Coffee, was inspired by a famous song from Brisbane band The Go-Betweens.

They said they had enjoyed living by the lyrics: "Round and round, up and down, through the streets of your town".

"It's one of our favourites travelling songs, and basically what we have been doing — driving 'round and 'round and bringing coffee to the streets of your town, so it seemed to fit very well," Mr Hoffman said.

Percolating in Port Macquarie

Despite loving life on the road, Ms Davidson and Mr Hoffman recently decided to grind their coffee van to a halt in the seaside town of Port Macquarie, on the NSW mid-north coast.

"The climate here is amazing. I definitely don't miss Melbourne winters," Mr Hoffman said.

"The people here are just so friendly and welcoming, the beaches and mountains and rainforests, wildlife, it has everything here, everything we need."

Meanwhile, the wheels of their coffee van are still going round.

"There's a demand here, we are finding we are getting to the stage we almost need a second van as it's quite a big area and there aren't a lot of mobile coffee vans," Ms Davidson said.

"And there are great local cafes; there's definitely a coffee scene here."

Travel on a broader scale is also on the horizon for the pair and will happen when the time is right.

"In a couple of years, we are starting to think about starting a family," Ms Davidson said.

"When we have a couple of kids we'd love to go on the road again and get a big coaster bus or something like that, with a bit more space and travel around and do another lap."

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