For a number of years now, we have been talking and dreaming about taking a break from work to travel, take on some personal and physical challenges and spend time with our much loved family and friends who are based in various places around the world....and after many years of talking about it, we're finally doing it! We've each taken a 6 month hiatus from work from October 2012 to April 2013 and will spend this time travelling between Eastern and Southern Africa, Jordan, Egypt, the UK, Ireland and North America.
During this time, we'll periodically be putting up some photos and updates about our travels on this site so feel free to check in every now and then if you're interested in hearing what we've been up to.
In the meantime, here's a quick overview of our plans:
October 2012
We fly out of Melbourne on October 2 and head to Moshi, Tanzania via a short Doha stop-over. We'll have a few days to get our bearings and explore some of our surrounds before commencing the Mount Kilimanjaro ascent on October 7 (we're attempting a 7-day climb on the Machame route). Wish us luck - we'll need it!
We fly out of Melbourne on October 2 and head to Moshi, Tanzania via a short Doha stop-over. We'll have a few days to get our bearings and explore some of our surrounds before commencing the Mount Kilimanjaro ascent on October 7 (we're attempting a 7-day climb on the Machame route). Wish us luck - we'll need it!
Following our Kilimanjaro attempt we'll make our way down to Malawi - where we'll have opportunity to meet up with Kate and Dom (Alick's step-sister and her husband) and experience first hand the work they do through The Responsible Safari Company. Thanks to Kate and Dom's recommendations we will have a few days to enjoy the scenery of Lake Malawi, take in a 3-day safari in Liwonde before staying with Kate and Dom in Blantyre, seeing the surrounding areas and visiting some of the community projects they support.
From Malawi, we'll head up to Zambia and take some time to explore Victoria Falls on both sides of the Zambia/Zimbabwe border.
November 2012
From Victoria Falls we'll pick up a Hilux with a roof-tent and commence a two-week self-drive tour from Zimbabwe to Windhoek, Namibia -stopping at various game-viewing sites and other points of interest along the way.
From Namibia we head to Cape Town where we can soak up the sites and sun before flying to Amman, Jordan.
Once in Jordan, we'll make our way south to Petra and experience a few days trekking in Wadi Rum.
Once in Jordan, we'll make our way south to Petra and experience a few days trekking in Wadi Rum.
December 2012
December will see us fly into Egypt and spend the next two weeks seeing the sites of Luxor, Aswan, Cairo and Alexandria before heading over to Siwa Oasis for some rest and relaxation.
From Egypt we will head to the UK to catch up with our lovely family and friends based there. Christmas will be spent in Somerset with Grandma Jean (and various other family members!) before dawdling up the West Coast of England and into Scotland to visit Granny Mary.
January 2013
After some further touring of Scotland and England (giving Alick plenty of opportunity to point out places of significance from the 'Mother Country'), we'll duck across to Ireland to visit Tess' sister Fiona and her partner Denis and spend time with them in their new home in Dublin.
After Ireland it will be time for North America - starting with a week in New York (where Tess can be in Broadway heaven and Alick can find more micro-breweries than he could dream of!)
February 2013
By February we will head to Big White in British Colombia, Canada - for Alick to refine his snowboarding skills and Tess to fall over a lot trying to understand the basics. At least three weeks or so should be a long enough time to give skiing or snowboarding lessons a fair crack.
March 2013
From Canada we'll make our way to Vegas for a few nights, pick up a camper-van and spend the better part of the next month road-tripping to New Orleans and back to Los Angeles.
April 2013
It wouldn't quite feel like Easter without our annual trip to the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival and we felt there was no better finale to our trip than to fly back into Brisbane and straight to Byron Bay for the festival, before returning to Melbourne in early April 2013 and catching up with our much-loved family and friends.
We look forward to sharing our travel adventures with you on this site!
