Rose Jacobs, wife of Today Show’s Steve Jacobs, on why her family moved to Vanuatu

THE wife of Today weather presenter Steve Jacobs has explained why he quit his job and moved the family to Vanuatu.

ROSE Jacobs, the wife of Today Show presenter Steve Jacobs, writes for Kidspot about the life change she made to get back her family.

Exactly one year ago I knew my life was spiralling in a direction I didn’t want it to go in and I was struggling to get through a day without yelling at the kids and completely losing my cool.

I was living by all appearances a fantastic life full of enviable traits — I was a television presenter, a mum of two adorable girls, married to a beautiful man who is a television presenter and living in a five bedroom gorgeous home in the Eastern Suburbs.

We have incredible friends and have been fortunate enough to enjoy some of the most amazing luxuries life can afford — but my gut told me things still weren’t entirely right.

For a start, my eldest daughter, then aged four was being bullied in day care. And I don’t mean the usual four-year-old banter.

The teachers drew our attention to it and explained that they were taking it seriously and over six months, they managed to resolve the issues with the bully at hand. But it made me sick to my stomach.

Rose and Stevie Jacobs pictured in their old Coogee home.

My daughter denied any issues at the time but apparently she was being victimised by one of her closest friends in one of the most secretive ways and to this day I am just so deeply grateful that the teaching staff were so well trained in seeing the signs that they picked up on it and knew how to deal with it.

Then there was the fact that I found myself screaming at my children and husband daily; which for me is well out of character since I don’t believe in inflammatory conflict.

As most mums would do, I started to question my own sanity. Before long I had convinced myself that perhaps it was me who wasn’t handling the stress of everyday life.

I consulted a few medical experts and almost convinced myself that popping some pills would solve it.

I also found myself surrounded by like-minded friends and fellow mums whose only outlets were a few drinks every night of the week. A slippery slide that many amazing women in my same situation have found themselves in.

But in the end, I listened to something really raw inside. I knew it wasn’t me. I knew it wasn’t my kids or my husband. It was our environment.

I figured the idea of staying in this toxic life was far worse than giving anything else at least a shot.

Rose and Steve Jacobs at the Qantas 95th Birthday Gala Celebration. Picture: Richard Dobson

Despite most of the people I admire and respect telling me that my life was perfect, and that I just needed to change my routine or look at things differently, my own instinct that told me there had to be a better quality way of life for myself, my children, my husband and for all of us as a unit.

One that had even an ounce of the childhood that my husband and I both enjoyed growing up in coastal regional towns where a stranger would say good morning to you, where you had real grass on your property and where you kissed your kids goodnight without dead-bolting their windows before you left the room.

It wasn’t until a genuine heart-to-heart with my husband about what we wanted for our kids came up that we decided to bite the bullet.

Our kids were obsessed with iPads, sugar, any type of Frozen paraphernalia and on a weekend when the sun was shining and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world were right there at the end of our street and they begged to just stay home and watch TV, we made the decision.

Steve Jacobs with his family. Picture: Adam Yip/The Daily Telegraph

Vanuatu wasn’t a flip of the coin choice. We did genuinely consider moving to the north coast of NSW where I was raised.

Bullying, iPads and sugar exist of course all over the world. Running away to another country was never going to be a quick fix for any of these things, nor our own personal faults and failures.

But we happened to know of a particular country where the things that matter in life are still held paramount and a little dose of a more organic environment certainly couldn’t be a bad move.

A work trip to the islands many moons ago saw us fall in love with the people and the pace of Vanuatu. We also spent time there as a family several times a year as our opportunity to genuinely reconnect with each other, disconnect from devices and slow the hell down.

Sure, we had concerns about actually living there full time, like the quality of education that our kids would have. We also wondered whether the isolation would drive us all insane. Would it remove us from our careers and be detrimental? Would our friendships suffer? Would we as a couple be confronted with spending more time together and drive each other nuts?

Well, none of those reasons were big enough compared to the misery we felt in our current life. So we shook on it.

My husband renegotiated his work schedule so he now commutes regularly (it’s a three hour flight from Sydney to Vanuatu).

We enrolled the kids in Vanuatu’s International school, which has blown us away with its standards. We flew our dogs over with us because I was adamant that we don’t leave anyone behind.

We packed up our entire life’s possessions and realised we didn’t actually want, need or even like a vast majority of it. We donated almost every winter item of clothing we own. I threw out my mobile SIM card.

We had a massive farewell party with our family and friends and then we just left. In retrospect, making the decision itself was way harder than the actual logistics.

But of course, with any massive transition there are always going to be many challenges. It isn’t like a permanent holiday living on a tropical island.

The kids desperately miss their Sydney friends. We have no family here for support. There’s no such thing as fresh milk. I got Dengue fever the first week we arrived and it knocked me flat for a month.

I can’t take my dogs to the supermarket in case they get stolen. I get up at 5:45am to get the kids to school by 7:15am and return to collect them at 1:30pm because of the heat. Island life is busy, hot, slow and if you let it be, isolating.

But I can tell you, hand on my heart that there hasn’t been a nanosecond of regret. Our two dogs have learned to swim, and I think they’re actually smiling!

The greatest danger my kids face now are coconuts falling on their heads. My husband is seeing the old me that he first fell in love with. I’ve got chooks, a vegie garden, a hammock and my sanity back!

Stevie with his family on the Today Show.

My kids are making new friends and for my daughter’s fourth birthday this weekend she has twenty new school mates coming to celebrate. I drive at a much slower pace, which you kind of have to since there are no road rules.

When the Wi-Fi or electricity drops out, we celebrate with a candlelit beach barbecue under the stars.

My five-year-old daughter has learned to snorkel and goes searching for nemo fish on the reef.

Instead of pestering me for the iPad, my youngest begs me to go feed the enormous pig Lulu down the road with her.

Channel Nine weather man Steve Jacobs with his wife Rose and their daughters Francesca and Isabella.

I have fresh eggs and home grown coriander in the mornings for breakfast. My husband bought me a twin cab ute and a machete for my birthday and they’re the best presents I’ve ever received.

The challenges will no doubt continue to arise — like yesterday I had to stop the kids from eating the hermit crabs — but the only screaming I do is when it rains and I call my family to join me for a dance on the grass … which they do.

Oh, and for the record, I do now have family here in Vanuatu. Every second woman I pass in the street greets me with the local slang “hello sista”. I’ve never felt more content.

This article originally appeared on Kidspot.