We’ve arrived in Australia!!
It’s Wednesday night and we are chilling with a couple beers and my cousin Joe. It’s the end of our first week here and we are already completely settled in. After a few days of bad weather at the start (rain and 20 degree cold), the sun has been shining and the surrealness of a hot December has set in. Joe has been an excellent chauffeur and chef, not only driving us around from Bilgola to Palm beach to Manly to Curl Curl and back home to Warrawee but also whipping up unbelievably delicious breakfasts and dinners . The Renshaws, and particularly Tess, have been such generous hosts, giving us a spacious room, showing us around the city and generally making us feel at home.
Apart from spending time at the beach, we enjoyed a lovely bbq at my Uncle Mark’s house, which gave me a chance to see my cousin’s beautiful sons who have grown up so much! We have also visited Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, The Opera House, The Rocks, Hornsby Mall and walked across the Harbour Bridge. All in all, we feel at home here in the sunshine, and are looking forward to next week when we will travel up to the Gold Coast with Joe and maybe even go skydiving..!
We’ll keep you posted 
Categories: Australia · BBQ · Beer · Sydney
Talk about a change of scene. Going from Ecuador’s rough landscape to the perfectly manicured setting in Switzerland is hardly a smooth transition. While I looked out the window driving from Geneva to Lausanne I did find one unmistakable common feature: mountains! Other than that, we’re in completely foreign territory right now. Everything is clean; the people are quiet and reserved. How did we get here and what have we been doing since Sophia and Liz last updated you?
I’ll be brief for your sakes. I’m also anxious to explore the oddly calm, cold streets that have been waiting for me since my landing. I guess I feel slightly out of place right now because life in Quito (or at least my life in Quito) was so loud and fast-paced. That’s where Sophia and I spent our last week in Ecuador. After leaving Sta. Martha, Liz went off to do more traveling in Ecuador (she definitely owes you a post describing her adventures in the Galapagos) while Sophia and I remained stationary and enjoyed the capital city. And we certainly took advantage of city life after 10 weeks of isolation! We toured the old city, walked through various neighborhoods, relished taking public transportation and slowly eased back into touch with civilization via unlimited internet access. We were lucky enough to have great companions (despite the fact that Liz was not with us) and spent time with friends from the project and from Quito.
Now it’s time to make a confession. The difference between Ecuador and Switzerland is shocking; I don’ think we could have gone to more opposite ends of the spectrum in a shorter span of time. However, we had more time to adjust and prepare for the latter half of our journey than originally planned. A little over a month into Ecuador, Liz and Sophia decided they wanted to spend more time in New York before heading off to travel for another 7 months. Our first plan had been to pass all of 24 hours back home after Ecuador and to take off immediately after. I eventually agreed our itinerary was unreasonable and a bit too adventurous, so I called Avianca to change our flight into New York for a few days earlier. Only two people were aware of this change so on a Wednesday morning we secretly flew into JFK (our parents were all under the impression that we were in Banos or on our way to Cuenca). Thanks to our own organizing from overseas and the cooperation of our accomplices in New York, our two families were in the same restaurant unsuspectingly having lunch when the three of us casually strolled in to say hello after 11 weeks. The surprise was a complete success. After the initial confusion and disbelief, everyone was overjoyed.
Crossing three continents in one week has been overwhelming to say the least. Leaving Quito was heartbreaking; returning home was both comforting and bizarre; now we’re gone again, this time for 7 months, and I can hardly digest the fact that I’m not in Ecuador anymore. This kind of disorientation is to be expected with an itinerary such as ours. Liz seems to be struggling the most. She could barely speak Spanish in Ecuador, but now that she’s in Switzerland she can’t stop saying “Gracias” to the waiters. By the time we get to Australia I know she’ll be saying “Merci” and “Bonjour” all over the place, but who’s complaining? This is a very small price to pay for a year-long world tour.
Categories: itinerary · travel
