I Don’t Want Forever: Lessons From Two Years Away From Home

Cotopaxi Ecuador

Volcan Cotopaxi, Ecuador

When you spend any meaningful length of time away from everything you have ever known, you can not help but learn something. The past two years have been the wildest, emotionally volatile, serendipitous adventure, of my life.

Now, back home, it kind of feels as if my piece of the puzzle does not fit any more. My perspective, how I think about the world, how I decide what is important, It is not, how it was. I find myself living in complete contrast to the life I was living this time last year. Dealing with the anxiety and discomfort I have come to expect from moments like these, is as exciting as it is isolating. Continue reading

Understanding Venezuela

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Venezuela, it could be the most misunderstood country in the world, but it’s taught me that I’m in no place to make that judgement. There are a few things that are true, the government is corrupt. There are dangerous areas. It can be near impossible to find information or book transport/accommodation outside of the country. It’s cheap to the point of being almost unfair to the local people.

But like every country in the world these factors don’t define it. What defines Venezuela, is its resilient, friendly and passionate people. It’s incredibly unique and diverse landscape. And the lesson that it teaches all that travel there. Venezuela is a master class in open mindedness. If you give it a chance, It will surprise you in some of the most profound and incomparable ways possible. Continue reading

Surviving Oktoberfest

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I never want to go back, I don’t want to slide into another set of lederhosen, I don’t want to sing another verse of Ein Prosit, I don’t want to eat another bretzel or taste another pork knuckle, I fear even beer,  that beautiful golden nectar, I have now sworn off (at least for a while). Continue reading

Climbing Cotopaxi: The Quilotoa Loop

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Getting to the summit of Cotopaxi is no joke, 50% of people who attempt it fail. Standing 5897m (19,300 ft) high, It is the world’s second highest active volcano, and there is no way anyone can make it without some form of training at altitude, to acclimatise.

After a lot of research, asking around and recommendations from other travellers I figured the easiest and most enjoyable way to acclimatise before my climb was to trek the Quilotoa loop. Continue reading

Still Call Australia Home

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I’ve spent a full month now back in Australia and in that time I have been fortunate enough to of spent most of my time exploring it. Visiting places I’ve never been before and getting to know better the places I have.

Being away for so long and getting this opportunity has really opened my eyes to how much I once took for granted, to how truly beautiful my Island home really is. Continue reading

In The End We’ll Smile and Laugh

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It was a surreal feeling, my feet on the ground in the home town I left fourteen months ago, struck by waves of melancholy, familiarity and confusion. I felt as if for the first time, lost.

My adventure thus far had been the single most profound change in my life, but it didn’t seem like it was over. That the journey I started all those months ago had come to an end. I set out with one goal; to discover the world and in doing so discover myself. I wanted to put myself in uncomfortable situations, to test myself, experience everything I could and grow in the uncertainty of every moment. Continue reading

How Traveling At Twenty-Two Changed My Life

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I can still remember that morning full of nerves and excitement; I kissed my family and girlfriend goodbye. I had a one way ticket to Mexico City, a backpack, and vague plans of traveling and living in Colombia for half the year.

Fast-forward eight months, and I’m sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans. A smile as big as any of the cargo ships passing by. I can see a thunderstorm brewing in the distance it’s getting closer but I’m not worried, I’m just enjoying this moment, thinking about my life and all the people and places I’ve been. My time in the United States is almost up. Tomorrow I head back to Mexico City, back to where it all began.

They say “no man steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” Continue reading

Farewell Brazil, Farewell 2014, Heres to Adventure

jesus I spent so much of my life as a kid looking out over the Pacific Ocean dreaming of adventures in unknown lands. Of wild jungles and towering mountains, of different languages and exotic foods, of bustling cities and unchartered lands. The possibilities were enchanting.

When I finally got my chance to cross the sea back in 2013 I found everything I could have possibly imagined and more. Much more, I felt as if for the first time I discovered the world. Since then I have been obsessed with adventure and discovery, traveling through the Americas for the entirety of 2014. Stopping wherever I could to look back over the Pacific with melancholy and happiness at the island home I came from.
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An Evening In A Favela of Brazil

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I hop onto the back of a motorcycle taxi not really sure where I am about to go, my Portuguese still sucks! The rushing wind gives me relief from the heat as we climb higher and higher up the mountain and I desperately try to hold onto the helmet that doesn’t fit. Sandwiched between lush green mountains and the Atlantic Ocean a surreal feeling comes over me, I’ve made it into a favela. Continue reading

Sorry for the Delay

DCIM100GOPROFor the past month i have been living in the small jungle town of Missuhalli in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador and as a result have had limited internet access. I will be heading to Brazil in the next few days for more adventures and promise to keep a more regular schedule as well as updates from my time in the jungle.

Thank you for your support!

One Simple Trick to Motivate You Into Realising Your Travel Dreams


Valle cocora If you throw your hat over a fence, the only way to get that hat back is to climb that fence.
I love the simplicity of this metaphor; if you want something throw it over the fence, and if you want it bad enough you’ll go get it. Let’s be honest, we can have hundreds of places we want to visit and a thousand things we want to do, but for each one we can also think of a million reasons why it is not possible.

The fact is, it is easier to do nothing and dream up excuses, especially if life is great. Your only motivation is some vague dream of what life could be like, along with a perceived risk of losing what you already have.

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Psychedelic Coffee

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After six months of living in Colombia I still had not been to the coffee region. I am a self proclaimed coffee addict and I am always looking for the next best coffee wherever I go. On my brief return to Colombia I definitely couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience some of the most beautiful country side Colombia has to offer, coupled with as much organically grown Colombian coffee as I could drink.

So shortly after arriving in Bogota I boarded a night bus headed to Armenia. The bus took roughly nine hours due to some battles with Bogota peak hour. After a short nap in the Armenia bus station I was in a smaller bus headed for the small mountain town of Salento.

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Canyons, Deserts and Austin

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This world just keeps getting smaller it sounds cliché, well maybe it is, but I just can’t help but feel that way. As I bounce around the USA from car to car covering hundreds of miles at a time I watch as towns, cities, landmarks and the great lands of the United States zoom past through a car window. It’s exhilarating!

Since San Diego I have spent the days speeding through the sweltering deserts of southern and Middle America in a ride share with a girl heading to New Orleans and a Black Labrador puppy.

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The Great North American Road Trip Part I

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The road trip is over. We travelled almost 6,000 kilometres (roughly 3,800 miles), we stayed in Mansions, in student housing, in tents, in the car, in hostels and strangers houses. We visited over 20 major cities and small towns over two countries. We partied, hiked, chilled, walked, talked, got high, swam, worked, got naked (I can explain!) and had the time of our freaking lives. We did it all in just over a month and finally I can breathe again!

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New York, Now I Can Make it Anywhere

20140616_143859New York, New freaking York what can I really say, I never expected to be here in this stage of life and it has made quite an impression. Honestly, though I was not expecting the culture shock I would get from America, and the land of the almighty dollar.

Part of me wants to proclaim it the greatest city in the world, the modern Babylon a testament to human achievement, and in many ways it is. A city that never sleep,s a beautiful, diverse, quirky metropolis where there is a place for anything and everything.

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Colombia, The Country That Made Me Cry, and Laugh, and Smile, And Cry Again

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How do I even contain this in such a small platform? Where do I start? How do I finish? Colombia was the best thing that ever happened to me, period.

I went there with expectations, ideas of how things would go, worries, pressures from myself, from back home, nervousness, and negative beliefs. And absolutely nothing went to plan.

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Return to Medellin

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In an effort to escape Bogota’s cold, rainy weather I decided to yet again return to Medellin for the long weekend. After living in Bogota for the past few months it really felt like a regular holiday. I threw a few changes of clothes, my toothbrush, phone charger and my thoughts journal in a bag, I closed my front door, jumped in a cab and headed off for a regular sunny holiday.

The sun is shining, the temperature is already perfect. I step off the plane and just stand there taking in the fresh air and sun’s rays. I am glad to be back.

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A documentation of lsd

This is an account through the eyes of the other of an LSD experience Lauren and I had some time before i left on my adventure. For me having lived it is incredibly profound but i think it still has value for anyone who cares to read it. In particular the childlike sense of wonder and imagination that appears to be squeezed out of us as we grow old is apparent in this account and proof it never leaves you. It just needs more excuses to come out.

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It came on slowly, when we stepped out of the great rocky cave on the top of the hill,

Cave Rock

smelling the bark and dry soil and gumtrees around us. the heat came on gently, not in frustrated waves of sweat, but like a gradual incline welcoming us.

each step down the hill became larger and more filled with laughter.
have we turned gold? my partner looks gold but then he looks at his veins and becomes green, iron oxidized limestone.

you turn the colour you’re feeling and i turned everything earthy that was around me gold and brown and green and ochre.

smell and see everything, every detail, every stick and ant and footprint, that was unnoticed on the ascent. this is the feeling i like, right now, has it even worked?

i thought it wouldn’t, haha has it? of course! no i didn’t think so i…

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Decision is the Difference

Life is good now, I am happy, settled, ready to experience what Bogota has to teach me in the time that I am present. It is a meditative experience adapting and integrating into a new culture, situation and perspective. Life right now is so full of that mystery we all crave, the mystery that gives life awe and wonder, and beauty. It is so refreshing living in the unknown, unsure of my destination but ready to take it on.
This video was recommended to me by a friend who assured me it was a beautiful example of human connection and communication. Tony Robbins is able to take an unresponsive crowd and convince them to listen and be inspired, by the end the entire crowd is on the edge of their seats. It also gives a profound message about decision and connectedness, something that resonated strongly with me after experiencing life the way I have these past months.

 “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way” – Carl Sagan

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The Pale Blue Dot

I absolutely love Carl Sagan he was an incredible man, with an incredible heart who truly believed in peace. This is a video set to a passage from the book by Carl Sagan “Pale Blue Dot”. It is a message about peace about how in the scheme of things all of our problems are trivial and all that is left is for us to love one another and take care “of the only home we have ever known”. I have to admit i might of shed a tear watching this.

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Moments of Life

To be a human being.

The animals that we are.

To chase and strive and be your best.

journey into the unknown.

 

Look upon the world we live.

The universe, the ones we love.

Stare into infinity.

Evoking awe and wonder.

 

Flow and twist and change.

Charging ever onwards.

Like a river, each time you fall.

Your current will grow stronger.

 

Everything worthwhile takes time.

Every possibility is improbable.

Only dreamer’s dreams come true.

So dream, appreciate life and its moments.

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Ecuador in a Heartbeat

1800373_10153841346665154_790549201_nIt is 12am and I am sitting in Bogotá international airport. My flight for Ecuador, Quito leaves in five hours. A flight that normally would take an hour and half but will take me fifteen hours via Panama City. A flight that was booked exactly twenty four hours ago, after a decision made twenty five hours ago and after a conversation had twenty five hours and fifteen minutes ago. I have only just moved in to my apartment in Bogotá two days ago, my Spanish lessons start tomorrow, I was settling in nicely making many new friends getting to know my house mates and now I am gone for ten days. So what the hell am I doing? The truth, I have no freaking idea I guess I’ll have ten days to figure it out… 

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Experience shared


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Making new friends and missing the ones not with me, I have been having the time of my life sharing this human experience with others. One friend in particular made me so happy and proud for the people I have met and shared a connection in this world. Today is the launch of my friends new blog “Adventuring Home” (check it out here) a blog she has spent months preparing and a lifetime gathering her positive outlook on spirituality, life and well-being. I cannot wait to join the rest of the world in sharing in her message.

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The 9-5 Paradigm and Revolution in Bogotá

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Almost completely settled in Bogotá and with my share apartment sorted out, I finally have a new home for the next five months, a base from which to explore Colombia. Bogotá is a very politically active city and there seems to be revolution in the air, with images of hammers and sickles, Che Guevaras, anarchists symbols, various other political slogans and “la paz de los pueblos” (peace for the people) graffitied on every second wall. Tent cities stand as a permanent protest outside the presidential palace and coffee shops are full of revolutionaries plotting and talking of change.

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Adventuring into the alone

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I have just returned to Bogota after a weekend in Medellín to celebrate Australia Day. I don’t necessarily believe in glorification of imaginary lines but I do appreciate the borderless sharing of experience that occurs when people agree to celebrate together; a big party is not too bad either. This would also be the last time I would see my friends I have been traveling with for so long. The beauty of Medellín and the fiestas that followed were a fitting end to our adventures together.

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Sailing the Caribbean from Panama to Colombia

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I have been debating over writing this post down because to do so, I would have to admit to myself that I was not dreaming. That the last few days actually happened and that now I can only revisit them in memory. That familiar bittersweet feeling of experiencing something truly great, that is both inspiring and life changing, ahh the boat…

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From Mexico to Antigua to Panama goodbye Central America, for now.

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I am sore, I am tired, and I am beaten. The last few days have been rough traveling from Palenque, Mexico to now arriving in Panama City. The first leg of the journey was a 6am bus trip to the Guatemalan border, a short boat trip, and another long bus until we eventually arrived in Flores, Guatemala 10 hours later.

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Mushroom guide through Mayan ruins

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Teotihuacan

A lot has happened and a lot has been learnt since my last post. It is a new year for one Feliz años Nuevo! And one that I’ll certainly never forget although my normal attitude of ‘leaving things to the last minute and they will work’ at this busy time of the year failed me. With hopes of going all over the country dashed by booked out hostels and buses I spent the New Year in Mexico City but was still able to see the absolutely stunning pyramids in Teotihuacan.

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Life as a paradox

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Everything has been happening so fast from meeting incredible people to discovering Mexico city the most alive city I have had the pleasure of seeing. I have been so greedy for new experience in this city of organised chaos I haven’t had time to properly update my blog for fear of missing something.

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