Our Shoes Full of Feet

After three nights spent in motels, Nick and I were starting to miss life on the road. Wanting to get back out exploring, we decided to hire a campervan and take a road trip to visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon National Parks. The van we hired was much smaller than the luxury of the one we had become used to, but we soon adjusted to walks to campsite bathrooms and taking turns to use the floor space. Nick sat outside our new campervan after getting set up at the Ayers Rock Resort Halfway to Uluru from Alice Springs, we stopped at a service station that claims to be “the closest point on the Outback Way to the true centre of Australia”. There is also an emu farm there where we got to see lots of emus up close. An emu who lives at the very centre of Australia As we completed our journey to Uluru through outback roads, we saw a lot of flood warning signs and, with our sunglasses and air conditioning on, wondered aloud to each other why they were there. We joked...

On our second evening in Alice Springs, Nick and I were lying on our motel room bed after spending the day getting a temporary campervan hired; trying our first Hungry Jacks (spoiler alert, it just tastes like Burger King) and setting up an Australian phone number. I turned to him and asked what he wanted to do for dinner. Whilst I Googled “Best places to eat in Alice Springs”, Nick flicked through the recommendations in the Lonely Planet’s guide to Australia. As he was doing so, he came across the following entry: Overlanders Steakhouse The place for steaks, big succulent cuts of beef – and crocodile, camel, kangaroo or emu. Amid the cattle station décor you can try Stuart’s Tucker Bag: a combo of croc, kangaroo, emu and camel. The ‘Drovers Blowout’ set menu will satisfy your need to eat as many local animals as possible in one go, it features all of the meats and you’ll never want to eat meat again. I thought it sounded amazing and it was only a two minute walk aro...

The first week of our Australian adventure started out really well. After leaving Melbourne, we drove the Great Ocean Road on our journey up to Alice Springs. Driving the Great Ocean Road Our first stop was in a town called Apollo Bay, where we went to the top of Cape Otway lighthouse and saw whales swimming in the water. Cape Otway lighthouse The next day, we took a windy walk up to visit the Twelve Apostles on our way to Naracoorte. The Twelve Apostles Once there, I cooked a kangaroo stir-fry for dinner and we ate it with Kalangadoo cider. There was a big jumping pillow there, which allowed us to act like big kids for the evening after a long day of travelling. The next day, we drove to Adelaide where we stayed for two nights. On the first day, we visited Victor Harbor where we had yiros and chips and discovered the wonder that is chicken salt (seriously, we NEED to get this in the UK!) before taking a walk around Granite Island. We hoped to see som...

“Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” - Dr. Seuss On 3 rd  September 2018, with brains in our heads, feet in our shoes and all of our worldly possessions on our backs, Nick and I set off to Australia.  Me and Nick outside his Mum's house just before setting off! The long anticipated journey got off to a bit of a tumultuous start with me getting travel sick less than half way to London in the back of our friend’s car who had very kindly offered to drive us there (sorry, Tom!) Thankfully, after that, the journey could only get better. Two solid days of travelling and a total of 24 hours of flying time later, we finally arrived in Tasmania. At the airport, we were met by a family friend of Nick’s who was kind enough to let us stay at his house for the night and cook us dinner. Being very e...

When I was eight years old, my brother left home to study English Literature at the University of Aberdeen. Two years later, my sister left to travel the world. She wouldn’t come home for five years. Being the youngest sibling, I have always looked up to my brother and sister and admired both of the paths they had chosen to take in life. I, myself, have always been a great lover of English, reading, writing and the constant validation of the education system. (How I miss that as an adult; now I just get my kicks from Instagram likes.) But I also wanted adventure outside of what I read about in books. I wanted to see and experience as much of the world as I possibly could and to make incredible memories like my sister had done before me. So, which path was I to follow? In the end, I decided to take both. When I was eighteen years old, I left home and moved to London in order to study English and Drama at Queen Mary, University of London. I graduated in July 2016 and immediately set ab...