Our Island Home

Since returning from overseas in June, we have battled our way through winter. We hadn't experienced a winter in two years and hadn't work for a year upon our return, so let's just say it has been a looooong six months. Looking for jobs, finding jobs, working jobs, hating jobs, spending all income to compensate for hating jobs, realizing you need money to survive, getting more jobs, quitting jobs and so on and so forth. The discussion of whether or not Brad should take the job in West Africa, fly in fly out from the Canary Islands, went as follows: Brad: "So, I have been offered a job in West Africa on a two year contract. There is an option for me to do fly in fly out from the Canary Islands, so we could live there if we wanted?" Kath: "Where is that? Let me google it...." And this, my friends, is what came up when I entered "Canary Islands" into Google. You should try it, it is quite a joyous experience: ........

So that's it folks! Kath and I are now back in not so sunny Melbourne.  We have started looking for work but it is all very depressing so you should come and see us and buy us a beer (or 3) to make us feel better... Here are some of the typical questions we've had, with the answers below. Feel free to ask us about it as we love talking about our trip (ignore the tears though, we'll probably get sad!) The Final Maps of our entire journey: We can't wait to get back out there!!!

Couldn´t have said it better myself. After 300 plus hours spent on buses in South America, we would like to impart some of our knowledge to you. Below you will find some handy hints and some of the common sleeping positions to make your journey that little bit extra special... You´re welcome. 1. ¨THE MIDNIGHT STRANGLER¨:   So,  you want to drown out that screaming baby or snoring old woman on your overnight bus by listening to your ipod?! BEWARE. You will most likely wake up in the morning with your ipod cord wrapped around your neck, not knowing how it got there.  Yes, you successfully found sleep. But you want to wake up eventually, right?! 2. ¨THE 30 HOURS ON THE SAME BUS¨:   This position should come naturally to most people travelling on those long haul routes through the Andes. The basic principle of this position is a simple overflow of hatred of the bus you have been stuck on for a day and a ha...

Our blessed last three weeks were spent in the beautiful country of Chile. Where they speak Spanish so bloody fast and with so much slang that we could barely understand anyone. The Valle de la Lunar, San Pedro de Atacama desert. Riding back to San Pedro de Atacama, towards our most recently conquered volcano, Licancabur 5930m Beautiful Pisco Elqui We made our way from the hot Atacama desert in the North, down to the beautiful Pisco Valley, to the coast of abundant seafood and pirates near Coquimbo, to the cultural hub of Valparaiso, down to the adventure capital of Pucon with it's snow capped active volcano and back up to the wine region of Santa Cruz. A visit to a pisco distillery, Vacuna Chilean Cowboys out for Navy Day, May 21st. Coquimbo Pirate ship tours in Coquimbo Sea Lions laze on rocks near Coquimbo Taken by pirates! It was an emotional three weeks and actually very relaxing; getting us used to Aussie price...

Remember how I said Huayna Potosi was the hardest physical thing I've ever done in my life? Well, scrap that. Meet Volcano Licancabur, 5930 masl, who lives silently on the border with Chile and Bolivia. Volcano Licancabur and Laguna Verde, Bolivia We were lucky enough to meet a couple of Swiss geologists at the tour agency in Tupiza, Bolivia who wanted to combine their salt flat tour to Uyuni with an extra day to climb Licancabur. This was perfect for us because we had always wanted to climb a volcano (that actually resembles a volcano still) and we knew it would be cheaper in Bolivia than practically anywhere else in the world. Tupiza, Bolivia. We were a bit blase about the whole climb, certain that nothing could ever be harder than Huayna Potosi.  Mistake!  As my alarm went off at 12:30 am and I reluctantly peeled off my four layers of blankets, I seriously questioned myself about whether or not this is a 'holiday' we're meant to...