A family is raising the anchor on their 15-year Prince George residency and setting out for open water.
The Forster family - mother Lecia, husband Paul and son Eric - are planning to take their show on the road (and sea) with their upcoming move to Australia.
After daughter Paula moved down under two years ago and married, the family has made regular trips south to visit her, her husband Craig and daughter Mya, and fell in love with the country in the process.
They recently made the decision to pull their roots from their Beaverly home and create a new home base from Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday region of Queensland, Australia.
The Forsters will trade their five-bathroom home on three-hectares of property for a three-cabin boat measuring no more than 15 metres.
A main thrust behind their transfer is the opportunity to participate in the Louisaides Rally, in which a group of boats sail to the Louisaides islands in Papua New Guinea. Armed with medical and school supplies, the group of yachts will travel two to four days northeast of
Cairns to meet local people and learn about their lifestyle and culture.
"It's a very primitive culture," Lecia explained.
And as a family of musicians - Lecia sings and plays the bass, Eric plays the drums and sings, Paul is a multi-instrumentalist and all compose music or lyrics - the Forsters will have more than just supplies to exchange with the islanders.
They are also looking forward to exchanging musical traditions, not only with the Papua New Guineans, but also with their fellow sailors.
"We all love music and want to be sailors, and lots of sailors want to be musicians," Lecia laughed.
Once they find a buyer for their home and head off, it will be fulfilling a life-long dream for Paul.
"Ever since I was a teen, I realized people did this sort of thing and I wanted to do it, but was always landlocked," he said.
Now, with the luxury of owning their own publishing company, the Forsters can set sail without having to wait for retirement, as most of their work is computer-based.
Eric, who has already spent an eight-month stint in Australia learning how to be a deck hand, said part of the draw is the beauty of the country.
"I've always wanted to travel, and I missed my sister and niece," he said.
But despite the inevitable "hairy-scary moments" the family knows will come from living and travelling out on the open water, it's mostly optimism and excitement about the plan.
"It's not like we're the first people to do it," Paul said.
And, Lecia said, friends of the family understand this move isn't really out of character for them.
"People think either we're nuts or they're envious," she said. "But they know us, so they know nuts is in the equations."
