Our blonde nomad
KNOWN as the Blonde Nomad, Kellie Stephenson, her husband Corey and four- year- old son Zac travelled Australia with no plans to settle down.
But three years ago the family returned to Townsville and Kellie, now a mum of three, swears she won’t leave.
“We came back to Townsville to have our second child and then it turned into starting two businesses, having a third child and buying a house – and now we love Townsville,” Kellie said.
She and Corey run a concreting company in town, but Kellie is also in the early stages of launching a consultancy business called Support Local Townsville.
Originally from Hervey Bay, Kellie started out her working career on the Sunshine Coast before she and Corey moved to Charters Towers where they married, bought a house and had their first child. “Life got too much,” Kellie said. “We were unhappy in lives and in our marriage.
“We had to do something to fix it. So we had the caravan there, we sold our house, we sold everything we owned … saved for six months and decided we were out of there.
“We had no plan and no time frames.”
The family travelled south, spent time with family in NSW, then visited Canberra before heading to South Australia. Kellie was writing travel pieces the whole time and started to attract quite the following.
“We were feeding stingrays one day at the beach, then you drive a day west and you’re in snowfields, climb- ing Kosciuszko with a four- year- old on your back,” she said.
“I got the name the Blonde Nomad because I was too young to be the grey nomad.”
But none of those experiences could top the desire to call North Queensland home.
“I’m a lover of Townsville. It has so much to offer,” Kellie said.
“You can wear heels out on a Saturday night and it’s OK but I can head down the Strand in my RM boots and that’s OK too.
“You can get everything in Townsville. It’s a city that has so much to offer … but it has that country town feel for raising kids here.
“We’ll stay here at least until our grandchildren finish high school.”