Blogs from Sutherland, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Ok I’m ready to declare it. My mojo is back. My dreariness, cautiousness and ill health from my sickness is for the large part gone. I’m ready to travel again. Not because I feel I have to, but the desire is creeping back. Here’s my update list of things-to-do. I want my next leg to be purpose-driven more so than location driven, so I’ve now revised the list to have the what first and the where second: Hiking in Fimmvörðuhálsand and road-tripping in Iceland. Can mix in drop-ins to my much-loved France, Spain, and what not. Organised hike in Madagascar, Mt Kiliminjaro or, more likely due to cost, Himalayas. Organised volunteering in Philippines or Kenya. Non-organised volunteering in Manila. Can mix in beach weekends and short trips. Organised tour, volunteering or otherwise, of Sahara Desert, Morocco. ... read more

After getting back to grips of leaving the tranquillity of the Hamilton Islands after our slightly complicated journey it was time to spend some time with the Ashford’s. We caught a train out from the CBD to Sutherland where we were greeted by Sue, Amanda, Cameron and Tarryn. We then took a drive to Kurnell along Captain Cook’s Drive past the stinky swaps and the oil refinery. It was quiet amazing seeing the container port now and thinking about what it would have been like when Captain Cook sailed into Botonay Bay all those years ago. With the kids speeding about on their scooters we walked along the shorefront to the Botany Bay Field Studies Centre where we learned all about the landings and associated history of the area. There was also a rather large spider ... read more

We arrived in Sydney to blue skies and sunshine. Sue (Will’s Auntie) met us at the airport and gave us a lift to Ben’s house (Will’s cousin) in ‘The Shire’, where we’ll be staying for the next few weeks. We had the pleasure of meeting Bella and Lucy at Ben’s house – his 2 very large and very friendly dogs who proceeded to cover us in muddy foot prints. We quickly got to know Lucy very well very quickly as we discovered that she had a bone stuck in her mouth so after several unsuccessful attempts at putting our hands into her mouth to pull out the bone, she had a rushed trip to the vets to take out the choking hazard and returned again full of life! We happened to arrive in Sydney on the ... read more

In full prep now for our Europe trip! Hoping I've not forgotten anything and that I'm packing warm enough (my worst fear is being cold!!!!). Starting to get pretty excited. I'm also keeno for our trip to Port Macquarie, a week Of beach and surfing before braving the winter cold of Europe! I'll do my best to NOT get sunburnt to a crisp before leaving this time :p Anyway, one and a half weeks to go! See you at the airport xx... read more

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings--" At 27 years, five months and 24 days old, I'm FINALLY preparing to embark on my first around-the-world adventure! I'm currently in the research-come-obsession phase of my trip and spending hour upon bleary-eyed hour staring at obscure websites, trying to figure out exchange rates, modes of transport and clothing choices. The goal is a one-year adventure (to begin with) taking in SE Asia, China, Russia, Europe and the Americas. Even just typing that makes me all smiley with excitement! And I'll be doing it with less than 10 kilos of luggage, and with a small monkey named Marco who has kindly agreed to be my travelling buddy. And I know that starting this blog five months before ... read more