Day Before: Packing ourselves

A collection of clothing designed to both hide my shame and hopefully to also keep me warm, a pair of dunlop volleys that will carry me across the cobble stone streets of the various villages we will venture into, mozzi net to avoid being molested by insects as I sleep.................... The list goes on. As we begin to prepare our belongings for packing the excitement is truly beginning to stir, the butterflies in my stomach have become rabid, probably something to do with the amount of rabies vaccine that has been introduced to my body lately. Niki is organising her portable chemist, colour coding and alphabetising no doubt. This is what the past months life restructure has amounted to. Our lives, everything that we think we will need to survive the next year, have been reduced to this, 2 packs worth of essentials.

Nikis Bits : super over it... just get me on the freakin plane!

Connections: saved or severed

The difficulties associated with saying good bye are known and well document throughout both my own personal history, and the histories of every living person that has ever drawn a breath. For Niki and I, we are not only saying good bye to our friends, family and work colleagues; but we are also saying goodbye to a way if life that has defined us for the entirety of our adult existence. With respect to the people that we farewell, it is the strength of the mutual connections that we have built between us that will decide whether our paths will again cross.

It's a sad thing to acknowledge, but for many of the friendships that we leave behind, there will be no future. And to those people, we wish you well on your future journey through life. Just remember us every time you hear a fart, a mum joke, you snap a surf board, you hear a funky Chili Peppers bass line (off anything other than their latest album)...... Or you conduct any kind of experiment with animal poo.

In regards to our lost way of life? we kicked its safe, well structured and comfortable arse to the curb. No regrets.

It is one week from today until we leave. Stay tuned, because life (and this blog) is about to get a little more interesting.

The Count Down

It still feels surreal to me, like I'm reading a Brice Courtney book or watching an episode of Alby Mangles Adventure Bound or watching a movie directed by Sean Penn. Like any good book or movie, i can relate to the characters, they share some basic personality traits to me and come from similar circumstance, but these characters are embroiled in an adventure that people like me generally only ever dream about. To sell everything they own and fly one way to South America with no definitive date of return (or need to return)? To drift across the worlds 4th largest continent assisting with various aspects of the ecological conservation effort including big cat rehab in Bolivia, rescued animal management in Peru and revegetation and community sustainability in the Galápagos Islands? The Amazon? Marine Iguanas? Pigmy Marmosets?  Ocelots? Glass Frogs..........? Well as surreal as it sounds to me, its happening, so I better be ready.

With a little under a month to go, each passing minuet rings like my phones reminder alarm in my head, reminding me of all the things we are yet to do before we go. 'Ding' you still havnt sold all of your belongings, 'Dong' you havnt saved your target amount yet, 'Ding' you still need to buy essentials, 'Dong' you still have to finalise your units notice to vacate....... But these feelings of stress have an accomplice, well more of a nemesis. The feelings of excitement that well up like waves deep in my stomach momentarily push the nervous stress aside, giving way to a light euphoria that entices an involuntary smile to sketch itself across my lips. This is it, the moment that the love of my life and I leap into the abyss to chase our dreams. The count down is on. 28 days to go.