It’s the beginning of European summer: time for the yearly ritual of 20-somethings living out their best lives through a month of backpacking. Last-minute flights have been booked, bum bags have been packed, and smartphones are at the ready for the perfect sunny snaps.
It’s a ritual I have chosen to be a part of,…
I can feel my face turning a warm, visibly peachy colour as those uncomfortable, familiar prickles run up my neck, around my ears, even to the end of my nose. The little old lady is huddled over something on the bench with her back to me. I've been standing here for over a minute and…
“Finding the one” is a concept I am utterly fascinated by, but I also find it deeply puzzling. What is it that fuels peoples’ desire to continue trying after so many failed attempts?
For me, this urge doesn’t exist. At a mere 20 years old, with two failed relationships already behind me, I don’t have…
The boat wasn't big. It was a small dinghy with a motor, hand-painted the same shade as the ocean; not ideal should we encounter misfortune. This somewhat trusty steed was our transport to Vella Island, a small sandbar located one hour off the coast of Sri Lanka. The boat was shoved full of kitesurfing gear…
I have travelled in love, out of love, by plane, ferry, on the hump of camel – endless ways of getting from A to B and beyond in my life. Yet, when I come across the sunbed paperbacks that promise to cure the existentially erratic female solo traveller, I cannot relate.
When Elizabeth Gilbert wrote…
Lingering incense from daily offerings wafted over the villa; the smell of Balinese air and fresh street food filled my nostrils. A breath felt how I would imagine dirt-flavoured candy floss to taste – instantly melting, topped with a spritz of motor oil and a dash of bug spray.
A muffled chorus of squealing pigs…
You’re in the bathroom flattening your hair at baggage claim. You pinch your cheeks for colour. You’re nervous to see her. You’ve come all this way for her, to give it a shot. Breathe in, breathe out. You throw your 8kg on your back and head out, grateful for the light load, but hoping one…
Here I am, lying on a stony beach, near the border of Spain and France, my white ass-cheeks being kissed by the golden, mid-summer sun. How did I get here?
I’d been walking for hours along the crystal coast of Cadaques, hopping from perfect beach to perfect beach. My body was encased in salty…
A seductive siren, San Sebastian sings to me. Headphones in and jammies on, I tell her to shush.
Outside is the reason I am here in Spain for a month-long travel writing course. Outside is the reason I am the furthest physical point away from home in Australia I could be.
I’m in my hostel…
I’m a romantic -- always have been; always will be. I love the idea of knowing what the stars have to say, and am also one of those debatably crazy chicks who has memorised every characteristic of every zodiac sign. When meeting someone for the first time, there’s every chance I’ll be spending a significant…
In January, in Paris, I got a pair of black leather lace-up shoes from a second-hand store that weighs your choices and charges by the kilo. The left shoe was sprinkled lightly with mould and the right’s sole was peeling slightly away, but in the shop mirror they looked sleek and well-sculpted, and outside, on…
In 1994 in Melbourne, Australia, my dad sat in peace. He had marched and fought, and now could return to the country he’d left, with pride and without fear. 13 years later, we were packed up and heading across the world from our life in Australia to post-Apartheid South Africa. *
April 2007 The anticipation…