Days not Homeless: 4 Years, 278 Days ...and loving every second of this alpine adventure!
EuroVelo 17
Would this be the start of bigger things or maybe just put us off long distance cycle touring? Fortunately for me this wasn't the first time spending back to back days in the saddle, whilst Andrea on the other hand was going to find out what is was all about! The...
City Break: Lake Como
To date we had yet to visit any of the Italian Lakes, the reason being... well we had no excuses! We were living barely on the French side of the Mt Blanc tunnel and Como was a short 3 hours by car - as I said, no excuses, we were just waiting for the right time....
Winter of Skinning
The thought of being let loose on our own with fancy tech bindings and mohair skins, barely two weeks of skiing under our belts, was slightly intimidating to say the least! Shutdown had come far too early in the middle of March 2020, seemingly far too quickly followed...
French Bureaucracy
Yes, we had views to die for, great winter conditions, amazing summer hiking, a bigger apartment, our own car; all suddenly becoming a bit less significant now that we had discovered the infamous French bureaucracy.... and taxes! We had arrived in France eight and a...
TMB Revisited
Seeing the ultra runners with their minimalist vests and lightweight trekking poles on Corsica's GR20 earlier this year set the seed. Whilst we hauled 20kg backpacks over the rugged terrain these guys passed us with ease, skipping through multiple stages en route to...
Corsica GR 20
France had just removed its 100km travel limitation, Italy was about to open borders with its neighbors; still we were left with few options for a much needed vacation. We had been hiking like crazy in the Chamonix valley and needed something worthy of our fitness...
Tour des Fiz
Every time we drove or cycled out of town, passing Les Houches en route to Servoz or Passy, we would see this huge chunk of rock dominating the view off to our right. Turns out this is known as the Fiz massif. A little investigation also told us that there's a decent...
Chamonix Life
Every once in a while we get the feeling that this is the place, the place where we'd like to discover more, experience new adventures, and spend a longer period of time. This time it was the picturesque Chamonix Valley. Whilst we had visited a few times before, once...
The Rock of Niue
Less than fours hours after taking off from Auckland International airport we were touching down on the tiny island nation of Niue, a mere blip in the South Pacific. With access only by air from New Zealand or sailing boat, the Rock as it's locally called, is far less...
Intro to Sailing
Reading 'Love with a Chance of Drowning' could well have set the seed for a different kind of adventure, one based in the high seas instead of high in the mountains. Would sailing the Pacific be in our veins, could we spend three plus weeks on the open ocean without...
French Riviera
The thought was.. Well we've been to the Italian Riviera recently so why not spend a few days in between Morocco and Chamonix mixing with film stars and race car drivers in the French Riviera. Also known as the Côte d'Azur this Mediterranean coastline is famous for...
Roads to Merzouga
Would the Sahara be any different from Wadi Rum in Jordan's Arabian Desert or the Namib Desert town of Sossusvlei in Namibia? With Andrea's five day Christmas break we had enough days to find out, the only issue being whether we head to Erg Chebbi on the main tourist...
Toubkal in the Winter
Still recovering from a frostbitten toe and finger the probability of us actually making it to the top of North Africa was looking slim, made worse by the fact that from Marrakesh the Atlas Mountains looked totally white. This wasn't the sign I was looking for in the...
Low key in Essaouira
Prior to arriving in Morocco a month sounded like plenty of time, a time that was unfortunately already cut in half. Being alone for the first two weeks I only got to spend time in the populated Marrakesh and Fes areas so when Andrea arrived it was time to spread our...
The Local City of Fes
Whilst Marrakesh is known for its massive influx of tourists the city of Fes would turn out to be far lower key, a good thing as spending the past four nights in the blue city of Chefchaouen was all about narrow streets full of Asians and their selfie sticks! No need...
An Easy Bunch
Even being stuck in Chacos sandals with only 9 1/2 toes wasn't enough of a deterrent in tagging three more pathetically easy highpoints! Although heading out of south Florida towards Kentucky was the right direction they all still required significant detours; a waste...
5 Nights in Lebanon
Home to 2000 year old trees, Middle Eastern food, Muslims, Christians and Hezbollah Lebanon would turn out to wow us in many ways. Unlike a few years ago when we were in Jordan looking at relatively expensive flights to Lebanon this occasion looked more likely. Rome...
Rome with Rick
Being in Rome and Vatican City for my first, Andrea's second time, was one of our best travel experiences in Europe. Immensely rich in history the city provided us endless sightseeing opportunities, walking tours, people watching, and some of Europes best tasting...
Italian Riviera
Not sure that I'd even heard of Portofino on the Italian Riviera until it was mentioned in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the classic 1988 comedy starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Still, it was a place that someday I'd visit. Andrea and I had just hiked in...
The Price of Success
If everything goes well on summit day then tagging the worlds loftiest mountain is a huge deal, no matter what you hear otherwise. It comes with immense satisfaction, an emotional rollercoaster ride, and the realization that with enough desire anything is possible....
EuroVelo 17
Would this be the start of bigger things or maybe just put us off long distance cycle touring? Fortunately for me this wasn't the first time spending back to back days in the saddle, whilst Andrea on the other hand was going to find out what is was all about! The...
City Break: Lake Como
To date we had yet to visit any of the Italian Lakes, the reason being... well we had no excuses! We were living barely on the French side of the Mt Blanc tunnel and Como was a short 3 hours by car - as I said, no excuses, we were just waiting for the right time....
Winter of Skinning
The thought of being let loose on our own with fancy tech bindings and mohair skins, barely two weeks of skiing under our belts, was slightly intimidating to say the least! Shutdown had come far too early in the middle of March 2020, seemingly far too quickly followed...
French Bureaucracy
Yes, we had views to die for, great winter conditions, amazing summer hiking, a bigger apartment, our own car; all suddenly becoming a bit less significant now that we had discovered the infamous French bureaucracy.... and taxes! We had arrived in France eight and a...
TMB Revisited
Seeing the ultra runners with their minimalist vests and lightweight trekking poles on Corsica's GR20 earlier this year set the seed. Whilst we hauled 20kg backpacks over the rugged terrain these guys passed us with ease, skipping through multiple stages en route to...
Corsica GR 20
France had just removed its 100km travel limitation, Italy was about to open borders with its neighbors; still we were left with few options for a much needed vacation. We had been hiking like crazy in the Chamonix valley and needed something worthy of our fitness...
Tour des Fiz
Every time we drove or cycled out of town, passing Les Houches en route to Servoz or Passy, we would see this huge chunk of rock dominating the view off to our right. Turns out this is known as the Fiz massif. A little investigation also told us that there's a decent...
Chamonix Life
Every once in a while we get the feeling that this is the place, the place where we'd like to discover more, experience new adventures, and spend a longer period of time. This time it was the picturesque Chamonix Valley. Whilst we had visited a few times before, once...
The Rock of Niue
Less than fours hours after taking off from Auckland International airport we were touching down on the tiny island nation of Niue, a mere blip in the South Pacific. With access only by air from New Zealand or sailing boat, the Rock as it's locally called, is far less...
Intro to Sailing
Reading 'Love with a Chance of Drowning' could well have set the seed for a different kind of adventure, one based in the high seas instead of high in the mountains. Would sailing the Pacific be in our veins, could we spend three plus weeks on the open ocean without...
French Riviera
The thought was.. Well we've been to the Italian Riviera recently so why not spend a few days in between Morocco and Chamonix mixing with film stars and race car drivers in the French Riviera. Also known as the Côte d'Azur this Mediterranean coastline is famous for...
Roads to Merzouga
Would the Sahara be any different from Wadi Rum in Jordan's Arabian Desert or the Namib Desert town of Sossusvlei in Namibia? With Andrea's five day Christmas break we had enough days to find out, the only issue being whether we head to Erg Chebbi on the main tourist...
Toubkal in the Winter
Still recovering from a frostbitten toe and finger the probability of us actually making it to the top of North Africa was looking slim, made worse by the fact that from Marrakesh the Atlas Mountains looked totally white. This wasn't the sign I was looking for in the...
Low key in Essaouira
Prior to arriving in Morocco a month sounded like plenty of time, a time that was unfortunately already cut in half. Being alone for the first two weeks I only got to spend time in the populated Marrakesh and Fes areas so when Andrea arrived it was time to spread our...
The Local City of Fes
Whilst Marrakesh is known for its massive influx of tourists the city of Fes would turn out to be far lower key, a good thing as spending the past four nights in the blue city of Chefchaouen was all about narrow streets full of Asians and their selfie sticks! No need...
An Easy Bunch
Even being stuck in Chacos sandals with only 9 1/2 toes wasn't enough of a deterrent in tagging three more pathetically easy highpoints! Although heading out of south Florida towards Kentucky was the right direction they all still required significant detours; a waste...
5 Nights in Lebanon
Home to 2000 year old trees, Middle Eastern food, Muslims, Christians and Hezbollah Lebanon would turn out to wow us in many ways. Unlike a few years ago when we were in Jordan looking at relatively expensive flights to Lebanon this occasion looked more likely. Rome...
Rome with Rick
Being in Rome and Vatican City for my first, Andrea's second time, was one of our best travel experiences in Europe. Immensely rich in history the city provided us endless sightseeing opportunities, walking tours, people watching, and some of Europes best tasting...
Italian Riviera
Not sure that I'd even heard of Portofino on the Italian Riviera until it was mentioned in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the classic 1988 comedy starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Still, it was a place that someday I'd visit. Andrea and I had just hiked in...
The Price of Success
If everything goes well on summit day then tagging the worlds loftiest mountain is a huge deal, no matter what you hear otherwise. It comes with immense satisfaction, an emotional rollercoaster ride, and the realization that with enough desire anything is possible....
