Nothing much happened today - a catch-up day for us (email, washing etc). However, that doesn't mean we don't have anything to say ...
Can you believe it's been six months?
We left the UK on 8th December, so two days ago marked the 6-month - and half-way - in our globe-trotting adventures. In some ways it feels like the time has flown. Six months?! But on the other hand, things that we did just a matter of weeks ago feel like an eternity ago; New Zealand feels like a holiday we took last year, while Cairns was a place we went to years ago; it feels like we've owned Ethel (our Kombi) for a lot longer than 4 and a bit months (6 weeks of which she was left on a cold Sydney airport car park).
So, we're closer to coming back to England than we are to leaving it. We're wrapped up in several layers, wearing beanie hats and warm coats while everyone back in England is looking forward to taking summer breaks. But once we get back, we'll be getting our second winter for the year. Yeah, yeah, don't shed any tears 'cos we've had the Aussie sun and we'll be getting warm weather in Asia again soon.
So, what have we done in the last 6 months then?
- Been to USA (San Fran, LA), Fiji, New Zealand, Australia
- Been on eight flights
- Driven over 8,500 miles around Australia and New Zealand
- Flown over and dived on the Great Barrier Reef
- Been on seven boat journeys
- Been hiking on a few glaciers
- Walked up the world's steepest street
- Climbed every lookout tower that we've set eyes upon
- Held a wombat, a snake, a crocodile and a koala
- Fed possums and wallabies
- Seen a giant mango, pineapple, banana, guitar and prawn
- Been snowed in at a national park in June
- Dived with sharks (in an aquarium)
- Been dolphin and whale spotting
- Actually, we've been to 3 aquariums in 6 months - is that too many? Anyway ...
- Caught up with lots of people we've met on previous holidays or only ever known by their email addresses (but never met in person)
Once we've sold our kombi (in next 8 weeks or so), we'll be making our way from Australia to Asia (route yet to be confirmed for sure). It may not be as easy for us to keep the site updated, but we'll try our best. In the meantime, we appreciate people commenting on the site or dropping us a line, so don't stop now!
For all those back in the UK - see you in 6!
Enjoying reading this round the world trip diary? You can buy this in good old-fashioned dead tree format via lulu.com. The entire year trip is split between two books [part 1 available now].