One Year On

I can’t quite believe it. I have been away from my beautiful home, family and friends for an entire year. 1 year ago now on June 6^th 2015 I left England and took flight for an adventure that’s taken me on an incredible path. I’ve met amazing people, visited wondrous places and seen incredible sights. Looking back it seems like only yesterday, but when I think back over what I have done and the places I have seen, it doesn’t quite seem real.

America

I spent three months living in the wilderness that is the beautiful state of Vermont. Literally sleeping under the stars on a hillside beside a lake, I’d spend my days teaching kids to climb a tower, conquer a high ropes course and taking them out into the forest to scale the crags. I’d swim in the lake in the sunshine, hike to waterfalls and a huge bluff high on the mountain side. My nights were full of giant bonfires, drinks and socialising with crazy Americans in a clearing after traipsing through the pitch black forest.

I travelled 3,000 miles across the country with the incredible Faryn Borella. We stayed on a hippie farm in Nashville and saw the home of country music. In Memphis we experienced the soul and blues, saw the influence left by Elvis and visited the spot where Martin Luther King was killed. We drove for hours across the deserts of Arizona, seeing no body else, just lightening storms far in the distance, and eventually arrived at the Grand Canyon, the most awe inspiring place imaginable.

Fiji

Fiji was just breathtaking every day. Lazing in a hammock on the beach, watching the phenomenal sunset over the ocean from a swing in a palm tree, cantering across the beach on a horse, splashing through the waves. Swimming in a waterfall then drinking coconut milk from a coconut freshly pulled from a tree, making jewellery from the husk. Eating pineapple at the market, snorkelling the coral reef, playing volleyball against local boys. Drinking Kava and dancing in a traditional village ceremony.

Australia

Crazy, hectic, whirlwind life in Sydney. Drinking at vineyards in the Hunter Valley, hiking stunning trails in the Blue Mountains. Living my dream at Surf Camp. Picking blueberries in Coffs Harbour. Working at Luna Park with the greatest team of people. Learning acro yoga. Swimming at Manly beach, and sunbathing at Bondi on Christmas Day. Travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane with my beautiful momma bear in our little ol’ camper van – sleeping in the wilderness, surrounded by kangeroos, wallabies, wombats and the most vibrantly coloured birds. Watching dolphins play around our boat, snorkelling with stingrays and holding a sea urchin, cream tea overlooking Byron Bay.  Embracing the surfing lifestyle in Yamba. Kayaking through the everglades in Noosa. Yoga on the beach at 7am every morning, and getting inspired watching Noosa Festival of Surfing. Driving a 4x4 across the sandy beach and trails of Fraser Island. Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and coming up close and personal with giant sea turtles. Jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft. Seeing rivers of bats stream overhead in Melbourne and Cairns. And now, working as a farmer in Leeton, picking oranges by day and shivering by night as the temperature drops and we head into winter.

But it's not all amazing experiences and happy whirlwinds. I miss all of my family and my friends so much. It's so hard trying to keep in touch with time differences and lack of internet connection. And I miss the little things. In the year I've been gone I've missed a family wedding, two new babies and I'm going to miss the birth of Baby Munro (spoiler!) which is absolutely heart breaking. I've missed birthdays and a Christmas and watching the little ones grow up. My wonderful momma is having massive changes; leaving her job and selling her house. It's so strange to think that I will not go back to my home in Loughborough, I won't walk through that life we created together, but somewhere new, somewhere that she has built without me. I often forget that life goes on at home while I am away. I can't go home and find things where I left them. And that's sad. But it's exciting too, to see where time has taken people.

I’ve learnt so much, about this world, about people, and about myself. I'm stronger than I thought. I can do scary things. Not just jumping out of an aeroplane, but taking off with no plans and no one beside me. Making things up as I go along, and finding a way to make things work.

I’ve realised that life is all about finding your feet, and then following them. I’m on this extraordinary, winding path that’s taking me from one breathtaking adventure to the next. I can’t see what’s coming around the corner, but I’m excited to see where it takes me next…

I'm on top of the world