In 2007, we travelled along the Murray River from the NSW-Victoria border to the river’s mouth, then continued down the Limestone Coast of South Australia to Mount Gambier. We then headed north to Adelaide and around the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas. The landscape became our new classroom, with the region’s rich and varied history providing welcome lessons.

Along the Murray we learnt of paddle steamers, the building of locks and weirs, the introduction of irrigation – and the devastating 1956 floods. Further inland, we heard of the establishment of the merino sheep industry; the shearers’ fight for decent working conditions; the role of mallee scrub in agriculture; and the history of inland farming.

Even though I once taught Australian history, I discovered there was plenty I didn’t know. For example, the town of Hay, a thriving agricultural community in NSW, had an internment camp for thousands of POWs during World War II; and that Cornish and Welsh immigrants were once part of the backbone of a booming copper industry at Burra, 154km north of Adelaide, and Moonta, on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.

At the Naracoorte Caves, South Australia’s only World Heritage site, we gazed in awe at fossils and re-creations of mega-fauna. Carefully climbing the spiral staircase of the reconstructed Cape Jaffa Lighthouse in Kingston, we were astonished to hear up to three families had lived and worked in this tiny eyrie.

Jeff and I also became students of Australian wildlife. I learnt to recognise the high-pitched whistle of the marsh harrier; discovered that the land-dwelling maned ducks are protective of their fluffy brood; and noticed that ibis roost at sunset and fly out to fossick in marshy wetlands at sunrise. Pelicans, black swans, swamphens, cormorants, screeching corellas and butcherbirds all now familiar sights.

I discovered that it was far easier to spot a koala by looking for droppings below a gum rather than craning to peer into the branches. I learnt that if you walk too close to a trundling echidna it will freeze into a spiky ball, blending into the bush.

Since retiring, new experiences have become part of daily life. We’ve climbed volcanoes, visited huge pine plantations and wind farms, and marvelled at intricate limestone formations. We’ve survived gale-force winds, hard frosts and day-long fogs. We’ve ridden our bikes and paddled along the Murray. We’ve learnt to catch squid from a jetty, and how to clean and cook them.

After a life of routine and regimentation, I love waking up to the unexpected every day. Australia is an amazing country; with so much to learn, see and do, there is no need to fear boredom. We’re living the dream, folks, and we’re loving it!

Jennifer Minter, 57, and her husband, Jeff, 58, live in Kiama, on the New South Wales South Coast. They perennially take off to explore the country, leaving their son and daughter to mind the house.