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| Croatian waterfall in Plitvice Lakes. |
(This blog is written by Austin)
Croatia: Soul Friends Made and Endless Natural Beauty Discovered
In this mystical country, formerly part of communist Yugoslavia, we indulged in the kind of natural beauty you would think to find only in the afterlife. Picture an abundance of waterfalls, crystal clear lakes, and remote island beaches, all waiting to be explored. We also met the friends of a lifetime when we first encountered Esteban and Zihya, a sweet French couple with a sense of playfulness and wanderlust. I still remember seeing those two sitting near the bus stop on the dreamy Croatian island of Vis, waiting to find another campsite on the other side of the island. We starting chatting them, invited them to camp at our self discovered "oasis" of a wild camping spot, and the rest is history. We spent weeks exploring Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Turkey, and now back in the US, we still think of them as people close to our hearts. You never know where you will find amazing friends.
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| Our beloved Cosette with Kindra. |
Settling in Izmir: Friends, Cats, and Cultural Challenges
Deciding to settle down in Turkey, our old stomping grounds from right after college, impacted the pace and experience of our trip immensely. We found English teaching jobs, and through an exhausting process were able to rent an apartment and fill it with old furniture and hand drawn murals. Going from wandering vagabond with little responsibility or care to working full time in a major multicultural melting pot of a school and dealing with Turkey's "in your face" culture was quite the transition, and we only weathered it well through the many special friendships we made. Relationally, the time with rich, we made our apartment the social hub for a while with a few parties. My highlight was when my dad and step mom came to visit, and we had all our friends over to help welcome them to Turkey! Good times.
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| Beautiful Mt. Robson, one of our favorite backpacking trips. |
Backpacking the Canadian Rockies
Kindra and I had been ready to get our feet wet in backpacking ever since deciding to quit our jobs and undertake this epic adventure, and Mt. Robson in the Canadian Rockies proved to be just the ticket. We started our four day trip late in the day and raining, always a good way to start :) Crossing flooded trails, with gushing waterfalls and silky turquoise rivers to keep us company, we made our way thirteen miles to a night fall arrival at Lake Berg. The next morning, we awoke to snow on the ground, and a tranquil glacial lake nearby. Over the next few days, we explored this vast, dramatic alpine area, and made friends with James, a British adventurer who joined us on hikes and for meals! We still dream fondly of this adventure.
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| One great waterfall of many at Havasupai. |
The Grand Canyon's Grand Secret: Havasupai
The mystical turquoise waterfalls of the Grand Canyon's Havasupai region, located on a Native American reservation, had been a place of my heart for years. Finally, I had the opportunity to go! Kindra and I hiked eight adventurous miles through narrow passageways of the canyon, finally arriving at Havasupai. There we jumped into deep, blue green waters, and explored winding rivers like an archeologist looking for the holy grail. Three nights and two full days were not enough for us to soak in this rare paradise!
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| Kindra kicks some wood down in Scotland. |
Building Bonfires in the Land of My Ancestors
Arriving in Scotland and exploring its countrysides was like stepping into the life of a super great grandfather, since the McRobbies migrated to America almost two hundred years ago. My worked on a large estate just miles from where my family originated from. At the estate, we had a blast helping out the Polish groundskeeper, especially when he said it was bonfire day! On bonfire days, we would collect dead tree branches via tractor or hand, and watched them burn on a HUGE fire! Often we sweated and worked six hours a day on this, and I would've kept working if someone didn't say it was dinner time! I have never had so much fun working :)
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| Our goofy car! |
The Death of a Fiat and the Start of a New Adventure
Our beloved Fiat Multipla, a goofy 'Honda Element' style car that we bought in Ireland, finally 'sucked the kumara' (New Zealand slang for died) one day in southern France. Despite our best efforts to revive our home on wheels, the French mechanics gave the verdict of a broken timing belt, which is a crazy expensive repair. Our farm hosts in France, Karen and Lee, were kind enough to sell the car for parts for us, while we continued by hitchhiking to Spain. It was a new beginning, we had little experience in using our thumbs to travel, and it opened a whole world of adventure to us.
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| The Italian seaside town of Vernazza. |
Italian Paradise: Living in the Moment at Vernazza
"What are we doing here?!" We arrived Vernazza, Cinque Terre, an authentic Italian coastal village with hot temperatures and a buckets of tourists. At first unappealing due to the crowds, we set up our tent in a vineyard overlooking the ocean, and ended up staying there for three weeks! The tourists cleared by evening, and the romantic village, full of small shops and gelaterias, lulled us into a near comatose state of relaxation. We swam in the mornings, cliff jumped in a nearby village in the afternoons, and drank Italian wine with new friends on the beach in the evening. We still think of Vernazza as paradise on earth.
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| The valleys of Berner Oberland. |
Yoodling in a Dreamscape of Mountains
Berner Oberland, home to the most beautiful mountains and alpine hillsides ever, was another paradise we came across while traveling Europe. We camped in a valley just feet away from a cliffside waterfall, and then hiked our way up the cliff to an even better campsite, in the Swiss village of Murren. From there, we daily gazed out to snow capped mountains towering nearby. Alpine hiking, making friends, and discovering a new meaning to "Swiss cheese" were daily occurrences. What a heavenly place!
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| Hiking across history in Turkey. |
The Lycian Adventure
Probably an absolute high of our trip was undertaking a three hundred mile trek along Turkey's southern coast. With only our backpacks and an enthusiasm for the open road, we struggled up steep mountains trails and savored downhill slopes into coastline paradises. Along the way, we met tons of friendly and sometimes strange villagers, eager to share food or an opinion about world politics. We also encountered cows, goats, wild boar, scorpions, bugs, and stray dogs. The trek taught us so much about the resilience of our spirits and relationship; together we overcame multitude of challenges. We finished the three hundred miles with smiles and a deeper appreciation of journey, along with a deep rooted sense of self confidence, ready for anything.
And anything did happen, as Kindra and I were surprised to discover upon our return to Izmir that she was pregnant!
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| This elephant at the Kathmandu zoo was so docile and sweet! |
Nepal: Final Stop
After one year and eleven months of unadulterated travel, we finally reached our last destination. Arriving in the chaotic capital, Kathmandu, we stayed with at a small church run out of the bottom story of a house. There we befriended the pastor's sister Muna, and her son Yabez, who cooked delicious Nepali for us! It was also at that church that we decided to say goodbye to traveling: we felt God had brought us to Nepal in one last step of faith, but that the path ahead was ours to decide. Kindra was three months pregnant, and the roughness of the road was taking its toll on her. Buying a last minute ticket to LAX, we savored our last weeks exploring more of Nepal. It was a nostalgic, emotional time; our hearts were so free and flexible from our journeys, and the thought of ending the trip seemed heartbreaking. But summoning our courage, we moved towards the pain of a trip left unfinished (we always thought New Zealand would be our last stop), and relished in the joy of a baby, a special gift, on its way. Goodbye travels, but hello new adventures!
