The Backpacker: I'm a nomad without a home, and I'm OK with that

But that would be fake. I was there for only four years. WA is amazing – but it's not my home.

I've spent time in England and Scotland, places that hold rich heritage from both sides of my family, and I've always felt a sense of belonging there, a sense that the land and the people in it are mine. But still – it's not home.

Gladstone, in central Queensland, was home for a while, but it isn't home. Brisbane isn't home. Sydney isn't home. Even Australia as a whole sometimes doesn't feel like it's the place I really come from or will always return to.

But that's what happens when you've spent your life shifting around. In some ways it's a huge loss, not having that sense of belonging, or a place you know you'll someday make a pilgrimage back to. But in another, probably stronger way, having no home means freedom.

I've met a few other people who have grown up in similar circumstances to me, who have been moved around the country, or around the world, and we've all turned out pretty much the same. We're nomads. We're travellers.

I remember the first time I hit the road with a mate of mine, Michael. We were in Scotland, and someone in a pub asked where he was from. "Um, I don't know really," Michael said. "All around the place."

Finally! A kindred spirit. I've never known how to answer that question, whether I say I'm West Australian, or a Queenslander, or I'm from Sydney. I'm from "all around the place" as well.

Michael, predictably, is a wanderer. I don't think he's stayed in one spot for the more than a few years. He's graduated from a childhood of being shifted around into an adulthood of doing it by choice.

We, the homeless, tend to think we crave stability and normality. But then the itchy feet set in. We want to move on, to discover something new. So we set off on another holiday, or sell all the furniture and move overseas. Or just change cities.

The freedom of not having a home means you don't feel tied to one particular place. You don't have to spend all of your holidays going back. Instead you can go forward.

Not having a home makes you less parochial. I'm not barracking for Team Brisbane. Or Team Bundaberg. I've lived in Sydney and I've lived in Melbourne. I love them both. There's no need to blindly spruik one over the other. There doesn't have to be a winner.

The same even goes with countries. This past Australia Day I didn't feel like I needed to be waving a flag and declaring pride and allegiance. Australia is great – but so are a lot of other countries. And being a wanderer, I want to see them all.

So here's the thing: I don't have a home. I don't know where I'm from. But I have a fair idea of where I'm going.

Email: b.groundwater@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater