Nathan and PK

Tour du Mont Blanc in film

By: PK November 10, 2019November 10, 2019

Hikes, The Alps, Tour du Mont Blanchiking, tmb, Tour du Mont BlancLeave a Comment

The TMB was by no means an easy hike with daily ascents and descents of hundreds of metres. I’m pretty sure we had to do a 1,600m ascent on the last day! By that stage in our travels we were I was excited about the prospect of having a reduced pack weight as the…

Finnish Lapland (Part 1)

By: PK June 28, 2019June 28, 2019

FinlandFinland, finnish lapland, kittila, lapland, muonio, sauna, travel, winter, winter wonderland1 Comment

Some time ago we were deciding on a holiday destination and came up with the idea of going to Lapland in the dead of winter. After much research (as usual, thank you Nathan for your hard work) we settled on spending two weeks in northern Finland (in Finnish Lapland) and then some time in the…

The Great Wall of China

By: PK May 26, 2019

China, Hikesgreat wall in winter, great wall of china, hiking, hiking from jiankou to mutianyu, jiankou, mutianyu, unrestored great wall of china, wild adventures, wild great wallLeave a Comment

Another place which was on our travel list was China. We were anxious because we had heard mixed things about our “motherland” – it was going to be crowded, hectic and a huge culture shock. We arrived only expecting the worst, but we came out of it with a greater love and appreciation for the…

Markets around the world

One of the places we like to go to in a new city is the local food market. I feel that markets (if you find an authentic local one) showcase the local fresh produce of a region for the season – and you get a glimpse of what life is like for the locals. Often…

A Video Shot in 12 Countries Over 12 Months

We quit our jobs and spent a year living out of a backpack and travelling the world. We drove, hiked, camped and hitchhiked around the world, living with little money and filming our journey along the way. I wrote this song about my experience exploring the unknown and re-discovering meaning and purpose in life after…

Uluru Road Trip – Day 1

By: Nathan April 27, 2019April 27, 2019

Australiaadelaide to uluru road trip, australia sunset, australian road trip, ayer's rock road trip, bush camp, bush camping, bush sunset, driving from adelaide to uluru, driving to ayer's rock, driving to uluru, mereenie loop road trip, outback road trip, outback sunset, red centre way road trip, uluru road tripLeave a Comment

We set off for a road trip on the Red Centre Way with the goal of seeing Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), over 1600 kilometres from Adelaide. Neither of us had seen it before. I was keen to see something new, have a bit of an adventure and maybe rekindle a deeper connection to the land and…

Hiking from Ausangate to Rainbow Mountain, Peru

By: PK April 16, 2019April 16, 2019

Hikes, Perualpacas, altitude hiking, ausangate, backpacking peru, backpacking south america, film photography, hiking peru, rainbow mountainLeave a Comment

I was reasonably hesitant about hiking to Rainbow Mountain. The second most advertised ‘tour’ in Cusco was a day hike to Rainbow Mountain – cue overly saturated photos on posters everywhere throughout the city. Was it just a tourist trap? After contemplating whether to do another hike in Peru after our hike from Choquequirao to…

Buenos Aires, Argentina

After one month of being in the wilderness, our mouths were salivating for good food and some city life; so we set off to Buenos Aires. As with all of South America, we had no idea what to expect. It was so unknown to us and it was so different from anything we had ever…

Memories of the John Muir Trail Pt. 2

Through-hiking the John Muir Trail would possibly be my greatest life achievement so far.

Highlights in Tokyo

Japan was listed as one of the places we really wanted to go to in our year of travel. As a young pre-teen my high school friends can distinctly recall how madly in love I was with anime and Japanese pop culture. Nathan had never been to Japan but has been strongly influenced by Japanese…

Trip report: hiking from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu independently

Click here for my personal reflection of the hike. Additional resources: Stingy Nomads and Travel Outlandish‘s report on the hike. We also found this Reddit post super helpful. We hiked from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu (25 April 2018 to 1 May 2018), but arrived the night before (24 April 2018) at the starting point of…

Personal reflection: hiking from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu independently

By: PK March 7, 2019March 7, 2019

Journals, Perualternative to inca trail, choquequirao, choquequirao to machu picchu independent, choquequirao to machu picchu without a guide, hike, incan ruins, less touristy incan ruins, lesser known incan ruins, machu picchu, road less travelled peru, solo thru hike of choquequirao, true inca trail2 Comments

Click here for our trip report and itinerary of our hike. Five months ago when we were still in Australia we knew we had to pre-purchase the Machu Picchu tickets because it is one of the most visited tourist sights in the world. We monitored TripAdvisor posts, waiting to pounce on when tickets went on…

Our road trip around Iceland

By: PK March 1, 2019March 1, 2019

Icelandcamping iceland, car camping, golden circle, puffins, puffins iceland, road trip, road tripping iceland, self-drive iceland, the secret life of walter mitty, waterfalls, waterfalls icelandLeave a Comment

When we first started planning our trip around the world (two months prior to our departure) I listed Iceland as one of the places I really wanted to visit. The Ben Stiller movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty certainly sold Iceland to me as a place to visit (yes, the movie says Walter flies to…

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

By: PK February 25, 2019February 25, 2019

Brazilbackpacking rio, christ the redeemer, cidade de deus, favela, ipanema, reflections, rio, rio de janeiro, rocinha, zezinhoLeave a Comment

Although we spent a lot of time on the trail, we found some respite in cities as well. Rio was one of the places where we had such a relaxing time staying in a comfortable Airbnb for 7 days. Our daily schedule consisted of sightseeing, food and beach. There was an abundance of fresh fruit…

Hiking in the Japanese Alps: as captured by a film camera

By: PK February 21, 2019

Hikes, Japandaikiretto, film photography, filmisnotdead, japanese alps, olympus om-11 Comment

After completing the John Muir Trail, I felt like I could take on the world and tackle any single hike. But on Day 2 of our through-hike across the Japanese Alps, I was ready to give up. The steep ascents and descents were killing me physically and mentally. “If you want to quit, we will…

The Tour du Mont Blanc

By: PK February 20, 2019April 27, 2019

Hikes, The Alpsalpine villages, alps, chamonix, french alps, hiking, hiking the tmb, hiking the tour du mont blanc, italian alps, mont blanc, swiss alps, switzerland, tmb, Tour du Mont BlancLeave a Comment

I never thought it would be possible to hike across three countries until we did the Tour du Mont Blanc. It is, as Wikipedia kindly informs me, one of the most popular long-distance hikes in Europe, circling the Mont Blanc Massif. It is approximately 170km long with 10km of ascent and descent. We started in…

The Amazon River, Peru

By: PK February 18, 2019

Peruamazon, iquitos, libertad, libertad jungle lodge, monkeys, rainforest, village, village life, villagersLeave a Comment

We stayed at the Libertad Jungle Lodge in the Amazon region of Peru (via Iquitos) and had a great time there. We loved living right by the local village. The Amazon is all about the wildlife, and we were excited to see all sorts of animals! It’s a shame Nathan didn’t bring his zoom lens on our…

Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flats), Bolivia

By: PK February 17, 2019February 17, 2019

Boliviaindependent travel, nature, reflections, salar de uyuni, salt flats, uyuniLeave a Comment

Whilst making up our travels plans on the go, we decided to visit Bolivia, home to the world-famous Uyuni Salt Flats. We decided against going on a multi-day tour of Uyuni offered by many companies because we had already spent a considerable amount of time in the Atacama Desert prior to going to Uyuni and…

A Few Memories of the John Muir Trail

By: Nathan February 13, 2019February 23, 2019

USAbig pete's meadow, JMT, John Muir Trail, Lake of the lone indian, little pete's meadow, Marie LakeLeave a Comment

In September 2018, we spent 21 days backpacking the John Muir Trail (JMT) in California. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but also one of the things I’m most proud to have done.

One month in Southern Patagonia (Part 2)

Crossing to Argentine Patagonia – Los Glaciares National Park Most travellers we spoke to had either come from or were going to El Calafate and El Chalten in Argentina, so naturally we decided we should add that to our (relatively flexible) itinerary. After about a month in Chile, we crossed the border to its neighbour…

One month in Southern Patagonia (Part 1)

By: PK March 29, 2018February 24, 2019

Chilehiking, las torres, nature, patagonia, south america, torres del paine, travel3 Comments

Torres del Paine, Chile When Nathan painstakingly stayed up till 4am changing our bookings a month early, I thought he was crazy.

The Atacama Desert

By: PK March 11, 2018March 1, 2019

Chileatacama desert, atacama giant, car camping, Chile, llamas, salt flats, salt lakes, San Pedro de atacama, south america, sunsets and sunrises, travel, valle de la luna1 Comment

Now that we visited Valparaiso in a day instead of the three days I had initially set aside for it, what were we going to do between now and Torres del Paine (TdP) [the only thing we had set in concrete (other than our Airbnb booking in Santiago)]? Nathan successfully changed our bookings for the…

Valparaíso

By: PK February 24, 2018March 5, 2019

Chiledogs, los perros, travel, ValparaisoLeave a Comment

How do you know how long is a good amount of time to stay in one place? This was the very predicament we had with Valparaíso – a port town famous for its streets lined with graffiti. Tripadvisor had forum posts where people said between one, two and three nights would be good – but…

When you can’t kick this terrible sleeping pattern..

By: PK February 11, 2018February 13, 2019

ChileLeave a Comment

I realised that being an early riser in Santiago gets you nowhere. Starbucks may be open at 9am, but there’s only so much you can do in the morning. Museums and tourist sights open at 10am at the earliest – representative of the culture and sleeping habits of Chileans. That being said, when I get…

Bienvenido a Santiago de Chile!

By: PK February 7, 2018February 13, 2019

ChileLeave a Comment

Our very first stop on our travels is Santiago, capital of Chile. Nathan and I were slightly nervous because we knew nothing about South America. On a sidenote: I had been trying to learn Spanish by audiobooks and Duolingo and am excited to have the opportunity to practise the language. I’ve forgotten how much I…

2018: A year of adventure

By: PK December 16, 2017February 23, 2019

Introductionsintroduction, journey, reflectionsLeave a Comment

Nathan and I have decided to let out work contracts run out and travel the world. It stemmed from Nathan feeling burnt out at work, and me getting increasingly discouraged that I have not had any success getting other employment in the field I am pursuing. Throughout 2017 I have battled a desire to obtain…