Part of me thought maybe I could just casually start posting again and not mention my SECOND hiatus since covid, but I figured that was the easy way out.
Realistically, I don’t even really know why I stopped writing last year. Life was busy for sure, but it was more that when I jumped back in that I spent so much time sharing my writing and trying to get it seen by as many people as possible that I started to resent it. The writing was the part I enjoyed most but it was the part I got to do the least of.
So, I’m back. I am writing again but this time the focus is solely on writing and sharing with my already established and much loved readers, rather than burn myself out trying to get new ones.
So what have I been up to since the last time I posted?
RED CENTRE ROAD TRIP
In April of last year, Dad and I scored some cheap flights into Alice Springs and decided to do a father daughter trip around the red centre. We hot air ballooned over Uluru, swam in amazing gorges and waterholes, hiked Kings Canyon and nearly incurred what would have been the world’s most expensive tow!
TOP END GETAWAY
In June of 2022, Ella and I took a few weeks to get away from Adelaide winter. We first flew up to my old home in Darwin and did a little weeklong road trip in the Top End. We released baby turtles, went on a chopper to a private swimming hole and went bird watching in Kakadu National Park before heading to our next destination – Bali.
BALI HOLIDAY
Our 6 nights in Bali were the definition of a holiday. We did a teeny tiny bit of exploring but we spent most of our time eating in restaurants, getting massages and swimming in our private villas. This was my first overseas trip since Covid-19 and it was good to head somewhere familiar while navigating all the rules and regulations that were implemented in relation to covid.
LEBANON
A few months later, covid restrictions were easing all around the world and many countries were no longer requiring pre departure testing. I decided to embark on a trip to a country that I’d wanted to go to for many years and the only way to get there was by going via Lebanon. I must admit, I had always pictured Lebanon as a nice place to visit but I was completely taken aback by just how beautiful it is. We spent three glorious transit days based in Beirut and my only regret was that we didn’t stay longer.
SYRIA
Syria was my intended destination after our time in Beirut. I had initially intended this to be a solo trip, but my dad decided very last minute that we wanted to come along and luckily we were able to sort a visa for him in time. Syria is obviously not a common tourist destination, but it is somewhere that I had always wanted to visit. I had met so many people over the years who had been fortunate enough to travel to Syria before the war and they only ever had incredible things to say about the country.
Tourism has been slowly reopening in Syria since around 2019 (although covid definitely impacted it) and it was a place that I was finally able to visit. Our week there was a trip like no other and I have a full blog post coming about our trip – as well as a discussion on the ethics of travelling to countries experiencing conflict.
UZBEKISTAN
After leaving Syria I travelled to Uzbekistan to spend ten days catching the trains across the country. I had picked up a water-borne illness in Syria and continued to be quite unwell, which meant my energy for exploring was pretty limited, so I spent my days rising before the sun, wandering around the cities in the quiet of the morning light and napping in the afternoons.
GOT A PUPPY
Ella and I had talked for ages about getting a dog, but it took us quite a while to decide on the most suitable breed for our household. Given that we have bunnies who live in the house (and whom are our first babies) finding a dog that wouldn’t want to attack them and wouldn’t hurt them accidentally was paramount. I also only really like big dogs, so that limited our options significantly. We ended up narrowing our options down to a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Newfoundland or a Great Pyrenees. In the end, a pyr seemed like the best option for our house and within about a year, we had found a puppy. Unlike in the USA, breeders of pyrs are far and few between in Australia – there are only three active breeders and all of them only breed every few years.
The day we got our Wally was such a happy one. Watching him grow from a terror of a puppy to the calm, gentle and protective boy he is now has been incredible. He is an incredibly well behaved dog and considering the fact that we are subpar dog trainers at best, it says a lot about the breed and about him.
GOT ACCEPTED INTO A MASTERS PROGRAM
I ended up feeling quite twitchy in regards to my work life outside of travelling and decided that I needed to do some sort of study and expand my knowledge or skill set in some way. I ended up deciding to undertake a Masters in Public Health with a tropical medicine focus.
WENT DIVING IN RAJA AMPAT
Ah, this trip was years in the making. I remember booking this week-long diving trip in mid 2018 for November 2020! Even then, a two year wait list was not unheard of. Of course, 2020 happened and I wasn’t able to travel to Raja and thus our booking was pushed to November 2022. Over four years I had been waiting for this trip!
Now that that trip has been and gone, I can safely say, it was bloody worth the wait.
I travelled to Raja with my friend Chelsea and it was an utterly perfect holiday.
We would rise with the sun, have a coffee and a light breakfast, go for a dive, come back and eat a more hearty breakfast, go for another dive, come back and eat an incredible lunch, have an afternoon snorkel or kayak or laze about reading a book, then have G+Ts on the deck of our overwater villa before indulging in a big dinner and an early night.
Then we just repeated this for six days! It was paradise and I truly can’t wait to go back one day.
GOT MARRIED
Probably the biggest thing that has happened since my blogging absence has been that I got maaaaaarried!
Ella and I tied the knot on April 15th of this year in the pouring rain whilst surrounded by the stunning surrounds of Burbrook Forest, a private reserve in the Kuitpo region of South Australia.
Despite the rain (and the stressful week beforehand making wet weather plans) our day was perfect. I know most people probably feel this way about their weddings, but there isn’t a single thing I’d change. Ella and I promised to love each other for the rest of our days surrounded by all the people we love most and it was utter perfection.
TURNED 30
Gosh, after an incredible decade spent navigating my twenties, it was time earlier this year to enter a new decade. As much as I held a bit of trepidation about this (the fact that I’ll be too old to stay in some hostels in a few years is insane to me) we threw a very laid back lunch followed by kick ons at our place. It was a great night surrounded by my favourite friends and we finally made a dent in all the leftover alcohol from our wedding!
DID MY FIRST LIVEABOARD TRIP
Ever since I learned to dive, doing a diving focused liveaboard has been a dream of mine. I had booked a week off work and flights to Bali and originally planned to spend a week in Laos, but once again the flight schedules just didn’t work out to be an effective use of one week off. Instead, I looked into going diving in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park.
I spent four glorious days aboard the ‘Bajak’ and did some of the best diving of my live. We saw mantas, sharks, turtles and oh so much more. It was affordable, fun and such an easy trip to do – I can’t wait to write a full blog on the trip.
WENT BACK TO TONGA
Will there ever be a time where I’m not planning a return trip to Tonga?
Extremely unlikely.
The whalies pull me back in just about every year and each trip is nothing short of incredible. It’s the only trip I do over and over again without making any changes, and given how many trips I’ve been on, that’s saying something. I captured some incredible video footage of the whalies on this trip that I cannot wait to share.
So whats next?
In a few short weeks Ella and I will be off on our much awaited honeymoon, we will be heading to Iceland and Greenland (northern lights come at us) before heading to Thailand and Indonesia to defrost. I also have plans to do a freediving course with Chelsea, a trip to South Korea with Ella and a big trip with Dad to Madagascar and Norway (odd combination but you’ll find out why).
This will be the first year in a long time where I’ll be back to travelling for 3-4 months in the year and I am so bloody excited for all that is to come.
Once again, I am deeply sorry for my absence but I can’t wait to get back to what I love, blogging about my adventures around the globe.
Stay tuned! xx
Welcome back 💚💚💚💚
Thanks so much Rachel, so happy to be getting back into it 🙂
There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a hiatus. Of course, opening my email this early morning to discover you had posted was pleasant surprise. I am looking forward to your adventures.
Too old for hostels? Never! (I will cry ageism if it happens to me)
Oh man I am so happy to see you are still on my reader list! How are you?! And omg yes, some hostels have age caps of 35… deeply upsetting
Lovely hearing from you again! Congrats on your marriage and making it into your fourth decade!
Cheers!
Thanks so much Sara <3 Can't wait to share more adventures!
So excited to see you’re back! Congratulations on the wedding and what sounds like an amazing year of travels. I can’t wait to read all about it!
Thanks Diana, I am honestly so bloody excited to be back into the swing of writing, next post is written and scheduled for monday!
Beautiful pictures that were missed. Conrads on your marriage.
Aww thank you so much, there are many more pictures to share, stay tuned 🙂
What a beautiful recap, filled with a lot of adventure and sweet milestones! Congratulations on getting married!! ❤️. Here’s to continuing to write purely for the joy of it.
Thank you so much Tiese, I am so happy to be back and actually enjoying writing again feels amazing.
Welcome back. What a lovely recap filled with tones of adventure and beautiful milestones. Congratulations on getting married and happy birthday in arrears! I look forward to reading about more of your adventures from around the world.❤️
Congratulations on so many fronts. And I’m so glad that you are back to blogging and sharing the world again.
Thanks so much Matthew, it truly feels so great to be back. I can’t wait to share so many stories that I have banked and then there are so many coming soon!
Welcome back! I can’t remember what sparked it, but the other day I was thinking I hadn’t seen any travel updates from you in a while. So it was a surprise to see this post, with all your lovely life updates too. It sounds like things are going really well. Congratulations on getting married, getting a puppy and the Masters! Looking forward to reading your next posts 🙂
Hi Grace! So lovely to see you again! How are you going, what’s new with you? <3
All good here 🙂 Quite a lot has changed in my life over the past couple of years. I moved in with Lewis, my partner, completed a Master’s in applied linguistics, and have gone on a few post-pandemic trips. So glad to be able to travel again! We did a 10-day hike from the south to the north of Corfu in May, which was amazing. I’ll look out for your Iceland posts as that’s Lewis’s dream destination – definitely on the cards in the next few years. I really hope all the upheaval with the earthquakes and threat of volcano eruption doesn’t disrupt your travel plans.
Wowsers, you’ve done so much, that’s amazing! Where else is on your upcoming travel Wishlist? Oh I hope so too, we have two weeks there planned! I think our plan B if for whatever reason that can’t happen will be the Faroe Islands and Lofoten in Norway but we shall wait and see…
We were thinking of a hike around southern Spain next spring, but will maybe do a shorter trip there via rail instead. Just got back from a short break in Madrid and the high-speed rail network makes it easy and pretty cheap to travel around Spain.
I love Greece so exploring more of the mainland and more islands is next on my list, along with Switzerland (hiking the tour du Mont Blanc), northern Italy and maybe some of the Scandinavian countries. Although they’re very expensive!
And we’re also looking at getting a puppy in the next year or two, so some plans will be contingent on that 🙂
I’ve seen photos and videos of Lofoten and it looks beautiful! It sounds like you’ve got a good alternative plan lined up, but hopefully the original plan works out.
Oh Spain would be beaaaautiful! I feel your pain re the Scandi prices. Dad and I have booked a trip for Norway next year and the 6 day trip is costing more per day than Antarctica did! It’s a complete bucket list adventure thing though (we are going to free swim with orcas!)
Oooh what kind of pup are you thinking? Highly recommend pyrs ha
The Norway plans sound very exciting!
We’re thinking of an English Cocker spaniel, I like the show type (vs. working) as they tend to be calmer but are still up for long hikes once old enough. Pyrs look gorgeous! 😍 They’d definitely be my type of dog. Ideally I’d like several dogs, including a Golden Retriever, but I think we’d need to buy a much bigger car (and house!) haha
P.S. I also turned 30 earlier this year. So far, it’s been the best decade!
Yay, love to hear it! My twenties were amazing so if the thirties get better I am in for a treat!
First, congratulations on your marriage. I think Ella is a very lucky lady to have found you.
I am so glad to see you writing again. You were one of the first people I started following on WordPress. Your writing style inspired me so much to keep working on my own blog.
Your posts were always so well written; I always felt that I was right there next to you, sharing your adventures.
So glad you are back.
Tim Harlow
Hi Tim! So glad to see you again! What have you been up to? I shall have to have a big read of your blog!
Mostly working too much! 🤣 I have been trying to post on my blog about at least monthly. It’s a great break from my work as an investment advisor.
I keep working on my photography skills. Also trying to improve my writing skills. It would be awesome to get your feedback. You are the best.
And of course, with the US political system in the mess that it is, I am hoping that we can not fall into a totalitarian right wing dictatorship. Never thought I would have to worry about that. Might need to learn to drive on the other side of the road. 😉
Monthly is good! I know what you mean, travelling and writing is a nice reprieve from the hectic hospital ha
Oh yes I shall definitely have a big read! The wife is taking the dog to the beach this afternoon (I am at home recovering from surgery to close a hernia – because apparently I am 100 years old now) so when the house is quiet I shall do a big catch up read 🙂
Oh gosh yes, look, our politicians ain’t great but wowsers, things are nuts in the states right now! Some of the stuff I see on the news is downright insane
A hernia! Oh no. I hope you recover well. It’s so cool that you found a partner who loves you and snares your adventures.
Oh yes, the insanity of the right wing in the US has amazed me. I have always liked history, and always wondered how the German people who seem so open and educated could allow Hitler to rise to power. Now I get it. Too many folks can’t distinguish fact from fiction here. Honestly, I am scared.
Thank you, it’s been almost two weeks since my op now and I am slowly but surely getting there. It is very cool, Ella is definitely not quite as keen for travelling as I am, and definitely not keen on a lot of the places that I want to travel to, but she’s incredibly supportive of me going and travelling solo or with my Dad or with friends – I feel very lucky to have such a secure, loving and understanding partner.
God I know what you mean, which state do you live in?
I live in Utah in the west. It’s a beautiful place, but the greater Salt Lake City metro area is getting way too crowded. It is what they call a “Red” state – dominated by the Republicans. The politics here is not great, but the scenery around the intermountain west is awesome. And it’s not too far from the Pacific Northwest where I really love to be.
When I retire I want to have time to travel more. Would really love to see your country. The outback reminds me a lot of southern Utah. And some of the places you have visited in Australia just are amazing. Just need to watch out for those big spiders and the snakes.
Lovely to hear from you again, and you sure haven’t been standing still! Looking forward to hearing about Syria as I visited in 2009 (also Lebanon and Jordan – great trip).
Congratulations and best wishes on the wedding.
Oh wow, how did you find Syria in 2009? I am sure it was very different than it is presently! I am currently working on quite a few posts and expect posts should start going up weekly so stay tuned for those posts 🙂
Some very good parts, some not so good. Start here: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/bad-things-happen-in-threes/
Welcome back and congratulations on your marriage! Looking forward to reading about your adventures again 🙂
Welcome back! It was great to hear what you’ve been up to & I’m looking forward to hearing about some of it in more detail. So many exciting things in your update, I hope you’ve had as exciting a time as it sounds.
What a wonderful summary of your time away. I enjoyed reading this and so happy you are back. 🙂