Our Island Home

Brad's favourite part of our whole entire world trip has been our Amazon tour in Brazil. As it turns out, Brad has secretly been carrying around a little 'souvenir' from his time in the Amazon. You see, he had a little sore on his shoulder that looked quite red and inflamed. It just wouldn't heal! So we went to see the pharmacist and bought some anti biotics to treat the infection. 4 weeks later, the wound still hadn't healed and we were beginning to worry about it.  We decided to see a doctor the next day and enjoy the rest of the day relaxing at our hostel. There we were, sipping on a beer, relaxing in the sun... I could see Brad scratching his shoulder and told him to stop playing with it. "That's probably how it got infected in the first place," I added for good measure. I continued to read my book until I heard Brad's most alarmed voice yelling,  "Kath! Get over here! Something weird is happening!" Indeed...

Two years ago, the day after summiting Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Brad turned to me and said. ¨I never want to go to this altitude again, I felt like my head was going to explode on the top¨......   A few weeks ago, as we strapped our crampons onto our boots with frozen fingers at 1 am in the morning, surrounded by snow, I thought of that conversation in Tanzania. It´s amazing how time can change your mind. Contemplating the climb We embarked on a three day hike up Huayna Potosi, a mountain just outside of La Paz in Bolivia. We hiked from 4700m to 6088m in this time; the summit day in crampons with an ice pick and a harness. We were placed in groups of two, each group harnessed to an experienced guide. There was team Australia, team New Zealand, team UK and team Europe. As far as I could get on the vertical wall (practice day) Look at that technique! Brad makes it to the top... Final Camp The hike to the summit commence...

An old man once said to us, ¨I see a hill and I want to climb it.¨ - Peter Ryan, 2014 The Inca Trail was just the beginning of our reunion with the blessed Andes. As soon as we laid eyes on those jagged, snow-capped peaks and felt that familiar Andean wind through our hair, we tucked away the bikini and dug out the hiking boots from the bottom of our bags. Let me introduce you to the main players in this story (and please feel free to hum the "Rocky" theme song as you read along for dramatic effect). Sexy legs, Bradley Resident photographer and emergency model, Kathryn Boobie, the wonder dog. Macca the Mule First Stop: Colca Canyon, just outside of Arequipa in Southern Peru. We took the, "we don't need no guide!!" approach to this one and organised it ourselves. This canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and about 4100m at the deepest point (I just wikipedia ' d it, so it must be true). Stop looking at the le...

Plaza De Armas, Cuzco Cuzco, Peru. What a spectacular city! It was an absolute wonder to walk around the old Inca capital, past old palace walls and temples. We were surprised by the amount of English speaking locals and the collosal amount of foreigners in Cuzco. Having come from the Amazon, and Brazil in general, where barely anyone spoke English and where we had barely seen any other foreigners for weeks - it sure was a change. Is it possible to have culture shock with your own culture?! Plus, it was bloody freezing there! Sea level to 3400masl sure was a shock to the system.  Christo Blanco, Cuzco Cuzco, view from Christo Blanco Our first meal in Cuzco was a HUGE two course meal which cost us AU$1.50 each. So what if it was served in a tiny restaurant where a parrot would pace accross the kitchen counter and do a poo every now and then.... The price was RIGHT people (and our robust south east asia/south american seasoned stomachs can n...