This is The End of 'Our Legendary Adventure'...

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Karlos is mowing the lawns, and I am waiting for the washing machine to finish before I go grocery shopping. Yep - we are well and truly back to reality... and it's dull! What happened to the two rugged world travellers that wore the same clothes for weeks, slept in cars, and bought food from men on street corners? They are so last week! So I am now job hunting with a ferocity that will see us travelling again before 2012! Although buying a lotto ticket does seem so much easier... I need a job before I can buy one!

It's good to be home though, really. Backpacking continuously for 6 months was legendary all right, but it was bloody exhausting too. The longer our trip would have gone on for, the more exhausted and indebt we would have become. So we timed it well. And now we can reflect on the amazingness of it all, whilst settling into a comfortable life together at home, sipping wine on the couch... and starting to plan the next one! Only the next one may not be as long, and the next one won't put me in so much debt - but the next one will, most certainly, be every bit as amazing. Because life is what we make it. And we're both determined to make it the best it can be. Wherever we are.

I am actually really starting to entertain the idea of being back in full-time employment again... as daunting a prospect as it seemed just yesterday (we've onlybeen home 3 days after all!). I'm just keen to embark on a new challenge - putting some of my previous work experiences, life experiences, skills, and knowledge into practise. As I have always said - travelling builds character every time you embark on a new journey. You learn more about yourself - your boundaries, your adapability, and how best you deal with stress, diversity, and change. Not to mention how to interact with a wide variety of people. So I'm feeling pretty confident in my employability at the moment. Confident enough to have potentially just made up a new word right there.

Being home also means catching up with our friends and family of course. So far we've been able to catch up with all of the family I have in NZ (there are 6 of us in total - plus my sister's hubby and Karlos of course) and Karlos' immediate family. We're slowly getting around to catching up with our close friends and extended family (restricted to places within a walking/biking distance right now!)... and the prospect of one large 'welcome home' party is pretty exciting. We'll need to make some plans for that and then send out a large invite - gotta love facebook for it's ability to do such things.

Catching up with loved ones, getting excited about furnishing our home together, and searching out the endless employment possibilities for me in Auckland right now - these are exciting things, and, fundamentally, distracting me from the fact that - OUR LEGENDARY ADVENTURE IS OVER! Which in itself is still a very upsetting thing. But all good things must come to an end, as they say. And after all - there couldn't be a future adventure if the current one doesn't end at some point - I really must remember that.

So bittersweet is likely how I will be feeling for a little while yet.

But for now... it's a matter of slowly getting stuck back into the grind. And who knows what I'll be doing this time next month...? But whatever it is, I will most likely write about it. And I will definitely be making sure that I love it.

Remember - adventures can occur even in our own living rooms...

Peace and love to you all, planet earth!
~ Comet xo

This is GIDDAY AUSTRALIA!

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The last month of Our Legendary Adventure was spent in Australia. And what a wicked month it has been! We covered a lot of ground, and spent time with a lot of wonderful people - working our way up the east coast. From sexy Sydney, to cool Canberra and the Snowy Mountains (who'd have thought the first snow I'd see in 5 years would be in AUSTRALIA!), to buzzing Brisbane, before finally arriving in Cairns - crocodile country. And boy, was it hot up there!

Pic of me with Adam, in his Sydney apartment.

We started off in Sydney, staying with an old friend of Karlos', Adam, and his lovely girlfriend, Erica. We arrived at 6am one morning, having not slept a wink on the overnight flight from Bangkok, and was determined to hang on until bedtime to avoid jetlag - so a day spent doing nothing but drinking on the sofa it was (I think I moved only to get more drinks, and to go to the bathroom)! And Adam played guitar, whilst we all mused about life, the universe, and everything. It was great sharing travel stories, and for Karlos and I to remind ourselves of just how awesome the previous 5 months have been. It was a wicked day. As was the rest of our time in Sydney, which basically consisted of more drinking, more good times, finally getting to eat some good ol western food (even though the city is over-run with Thai restaurants - we couldn't believe it! haha), and exploring the gorgeous Darling Harbour and Circular Quay.

There is always something going on in Sydney - the city is thriving. My only complaint being that it is so bloody expensive here! Even more expensive than the UK or the USA. Unbelievable! We paid AU$6 for a soft drink in a bar... that's close to NZ$10! I made a firm decision in Sydney that someday I must be rich. Very, very rich. And I would give back to the world by travelling all over and spreading my tourist dollar all around. Hahaha.

Pic of me at Sydney Harbour.

Pic of Karlos and I on my birthday, in Canberra, ACT.

Next stop was Canberra, to visit Dahlia and Jason, and to celebrate my 26th birthday. Firstly, Karlos took me to Max Brenner's for a chocolate breakfast, and then we caught a bus to Canberra city, Australia's capital. Canberra is a very clean, pretty, and peaceful city and we had a lovely few days there being thoroughly spoiled by the generous Kruyer's. We ate delcious food, saw some awesome theatre (including 'Out of Africa' an incredible African dance show - which you MUST see if you get the chance to), visted Australian parliament, smelled some flowers, fed some birds, ate a lot of chocolate, played in the park, and was even snuck away for an overnight roadtrip to the Snowy Mountains! It was awesome! We saw lots of Kangaroos jumping alongside the car en route, and before we knew it we were surrounded by zero temperatures and snow, in Australia! It was so bizarre!

Turns out I totally suck at not only skiing, but simply being able to stand up in skis!! I was so sad about it and felt utterly sorry for my self... but a lot of fun was had none the less. I sure do miss the snow and it was awesome to get to play in it (I spent most of my time up the mountain either on my back or my arse haha). We really enjoyed our time with the Kruyer's in Canberra - and would recommend Canberra as a lovely holiday destination for families, those interested in decent theatre, or anyone looking for a quiet, city getaway.

Pic of me attemping to... no not ski... just stand!

Pic of me with Kanga... the friendly Kangaroo :-)

After Canberra, we got a bus back to Sydney and then a flight to Brisbane. Straight away we were met by Greg O'Hanlan, Karlos' uncle, and were on the road once again - this time to Maryborough. We spent several days with Greg, Sue, Riley and their animals, enjoying family time and chilling out in a place where you don't even need to lock your front door when you go out. We were right out in the sticks and our time there included playing with Kanga (their friendly Kangaroo who likes to watch TV with you!), and joining the dogs to hunt for cane toads. Keeping an eye out for snakes kept me occupied now and then - fortunately the only one we saw was dead though! We also took a trip out to Bundaberg, where I just HAD to buy a bottle of the delicious Bundaberg Ginger Beer, and we also crusied through Noosa Heads on the way back to Brisbane city. Noosa was simply stunning - a cute little beachside town of boutique shops and cafes. Trees line the streets, clear bluewaters lap golden sands, and modern houses scream out style. I fancy a return visit to Noosa sometime soon.

Back in Brisbane we spent a wicked weekend with the wonderful Paul and Brandy Moir, and family. The usual good times between friends was had - drinking, listening to music, sharing stories and laughing a lot. We went into the city to browse the markets, have a pub lunch, and watched some street theatre that Karlos and Paul were invited to participate in. After a few days we were picked up by an old work colleague of Karlos' and taken to his house in Ipswich where him and his wife, Tina, took us to a local wildlife park and we got to oooh and ahhh at cute aussie critters such as wallabies, wombats, and bilbys.

Pic of a cute aussie critter... I think this is a wombat.

Tina is Thai, so we got to share our Thailand travel stories with her and she even cooked us an authentic Thai meal. The next day we caught a train to the other side of Brisbane and spent time with another old colleague of Karlos' - Trudi McDonald and her beautiful little boy Reuben. By this stage it was more than halfway into our month in Aussie, and we just couldn't believe how fast the time was flying by. In most part, I'm sure, due to the amount of fun times we were having. You know what they say, after all! "Time flies when..."

Our next stop was Cairns, the penultimate destination of Our Legendary Adventure... and we were soooooo excited to be sharing a whole week with our brother and sister - Anton and Elysia. They picked us up from the airport and we hugged them for a long time, and there was a lot of smiles - we were just so happy to be with them after a whole year apart.

Pic of Karlos in Cairns, after our bike ride to the beach... keeping an eye out for crocs!

Pic of us two.

It was a beautiful week in tropical North Queensland. We had a lot of BBQs and beers and beachtime. We made pizza, and rode bikes, and played with dogs, and cuddled cats, and went fishing, and swam in pools, and had a wicked night out being besties in Port Douglas. We avoided crazy critters - giant flying beetles, giant stingy ants, crocodiles, and flies... oh yes, in Aussie even the flies bite! We did everything we could to remain cool in temperatures that were still 25 degrees and humid, at NIGHT! We did a lot of things, really - but mostly, we relaxed and smiled a lot and bonded and relished the family time. 8 days later we left with tears in our eyes. Promising to have another family holiday again real soon.

Pic of Cairns at dusk.

Chewey meets Rocky.

Pic of me fishing for crocs...

And so, here we are. Back in Sydney for the last 2 nights of our trip. It's a bittersweet feeling.

Today we went to the movies and watched Julia Roberts in 'Eat Love Pray' - a film where Julia's character travels to Italy, India, and Bali... and it made me want to finish travelling even less than ever!!!! The world is just bursting at the seams with beautiful lands, and beautiful people, just waiting to be met and explored...

But, for now, we must return to New Zealand. We will settle down for a while, work and earn money again, reflect on our adventures and... start planning the next one!... knowing, more than ever, that anything is possible. And that life - is exactly what we make it.

But RIGHT NOW!... we're heading out with Adam and Erica! To let the good times flow!

And why else would we be doing all this??? ;-)

Peace and love, planet earth!

~ Comet xo