Adrianne Yzerman is a freelance writer and an accomplished photographer based in rural Western Australia. She has circumnavigated the world several times, once with her parents as a teenager and again as a backpacker in her twenties. With children of her own, she now enjoys showing them what the world and her own country has to offer. Her ultimate aim is to inspire ordinary families and people to realise their travel dreams through careful planning and inspiration through a warts ‘n’ all, humorous approach  in her travel blogs.

80 Facts About Me

1. I live in on a farm one hour from Perth, Western Australia and continually ask myself How did THAT happen? But I like the open space and there’s lots of it here.
2. My nickname is Yanne (only blood relatives call me this).
3. I was born in 1967 in rural Western Australia.
4. After a long career in finance I now write and take photos for a living.
5. I can’t live without 15 tubes of medicated Blistex®.
6. I once dated a Pakistani Muslim.
7. I suffer from arachnophobia.
8. I turned down two marriage offers (what can I say travel was always more important – I guess they weren’t the right one for me then?) and accepted one.
9. I thought I was going to die on the New York, New York ride in Las Vegas.
10. I nearly drowned in a tropical storm off the coast of Kenya.
11. I nearly died of hyperthermia in the Himalayas and hypothermia in the Egyptian desert.
12. I thought I was going to die from an elephant goring in South Africa.
13. I love stamp collecting.
14. I love making greeting cards and love to sew and embroider.
15. I am a member of a book club but I only have time to read 20% of the books.
16. I have been to the Grand Canyon, Disneyland and Africa three times.
17. I once dated a federal politician (before he was a politician).
18. I used to travel 120 km each day to get to work. I now work from home thanks to the internet.
19. I love the ocean. It has instant meditative and restorative powers.
20. I had to pretended I was the Minister of the Australian Defence Force’s daughter in Malawi.
21. I’ve managed to avoid the Bubonic Plague in India and an an earth quake in New Zealand.
22. I’m the mother of two sons.
23. I survived breast cancer when I was 45.
24. We have 3 dogs, 1 cat, 3 chooks (chickens), 500 sheep and 1 galah. My cat is my third child.
25. I am married to a farmer.
26. I am an atheist but I love singing ‘Amazing Grace’ and Christmas hymns.
27. I love Christmas and I wished it snowed just one day a year here (on Christmas Day of course).
28. I hate the Australian summers but love its winters.
29. I drive an SUV but I’d actually prefer a campervan.
30. I’ve lived in 3 different countries.
31. I’ve attempted to learn 4 different languages, Indonesian, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. I only retain one, English.
32. I had warts all over my hands and legs when I was in primary school.
33. I only eat because I have to. Cooking is a huge inconvenience and it is just as well that we live an hour from the nearest fast food outlet.
34. I HATE housework. It is such a thankless job.
35. My father died when I was overseas and I missed his funeral as no one could contact me. I still feel guilty I wasn’t there.
36. I have one younger sister.
37. I think volunteer bush firefighters are the biggest unsung heroes in Australia.
38. I used to bite my nails. Now I only bite the skin around them.
39. My bra size increased one cup size with each pregnancy and it stayed that way! (I’m not happy about this but my husband is).
40. I love renovating.
41. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science and a Graduate Diploma in Education.
42. I have spent most of my career as a Finance Officer.
43. My favourite flower is the tulip.
44. I love photography. I constantly day dream and night dream about photography.
45. I love travelling. I constantly day dream and night dream about travel.
46. I only watch football if my children are playing.
47. My favourite continent is Africa, right after my own, Australia.
48. I cry everytime I hear South Africa’s incredibly moving National Anthem “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.” I don’t know why.
49. My children were educated in a two room school and they now board away from home in order to attend high school.
50. I still get excited when I see a kangaroo even though there are probably about 50 or so in our paddock on any given evening.
51. We have a family of about 20 wild emus that live in our front paddock and I see them most days.
52. I hate sport (especially team sports).
53. I’m 167cm tall.
54. I always wanted a dolphin as a pet when I was young (but that was never going to happen in a dusty wheatbelt town, 2 hours from the coast, in remote Western Australia.
55. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little.
56. I always knew I was going to travel right from when I was four when I tried to find a way to get into the back of our four legged TV in an effort to teleport to New York’s Sesame Street. I’m lucky to still be alive.
57. My husband and I run several businesses between us.
58. My favourite color is blue.
59. I love Dutch comfort food.
60. I love wearing clothes from op shops.
61. My parents are Dutch immigrants.
62. I hate riding horses but love riding camels and donkeys.
63. I like to flip credit cards. That is apply for credit cards that offer bonus points, spend up on groceries and normal household bills, then cancel before the annual fee kicks in in order to get frequent flyer points to get to my next destination virtually for free. Find out more here.
64. I love chocolate.
65. My son was 9 months old when we went on our first family trip on an aeroplane.
66. My favourite movie is Born Free.
67. I’m good at starting things.
68. I hate watermelon.
69. I suck at fishing.
70. I am a volunteer and a Corporal in the Australian Army Cadets.
71. The most ‘pinch myself’ moment while travelling. Torn between being stared down by a large angry mama elephant in Kruger National Park and making it to Annapurna Base Camp and back in a pair of thongs (Australian foot ware).
72. My favourite song is “Born to be Alive” by Patrick Hernandez.
73. I am still best friends with a girl I met whilst living in London. Turns out we were from the same home town, Albany, Western Australia. We then travelled together, got married (not to each other) and had 2 kids each. We now live 2 hours away from each other.
74. I audit the books for our local, P&C, our local Playgroup and the Fair Committee.
75. I have a bad sweet tooth which is a habit harder to kick than cocaine.
76. I’m naturally an introvert and a people pleaser.
77. I am renovating a retro 1976 caravan.
78. I get exceptionally crabby when I’m tired and I need 8- 9 hours of sleep each night.
79. I love sewing and embroidery.
80. I’ve visited 30 countries.