![#16 Watch one of my best friends get married in Thailand](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/cimg8032-470x140.jpg)
It’s funny because one of the things that people always say to you when you go away on a long trip is: “Don’t worry, nothing…
![#15 Dive in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pictures264_exposure-470x140.jpg)
Having overcome my fear of diving back in New Zealand, I was really looking forward to diving in Australia. Ever since I took my PADI…
![Half-way worries](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/themes/oxygen/images/archive-thumbnail-placeholder.gif)
It’s official. I have passed the mid-way point of my trip. It all happened so suddenly. One moment I was moseying along with months and…
![#14 Visit Fraser Island in Australia](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/indianhead-470x140.jpeg)
I’m sure most of the people who recommended Fraser Island to me probably experienced it in a very different way. But anyone who read my…
![Too old to backpack it?](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dscf3837-470x140.jpg)
At home among some of my friends I’m affectionately (at least I like to think so) known as Granny Annie on account of my love…
![#13 See a performance at the Sydney Opera House](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cimg7181-470x140.jpg)
Whenever people ask me if I like travelling solo I always tell them it has its pros and its cons. On one hand it’s nice…
![Falling in love...](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/routeburn1-470x140.jpg)
I have a confession to make and this may shock some people and even cause some of you to de-friend me on Facebook, but I…
![E is for Earland Falls and Emily Creek (continuing wtih the alphabet challenge)](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cimg6833-470x140.jpg)
I was starting to get a bit worried about finding E, as it turns out nowhere in New Zealand begins with this pesky letter. (Ok…
![Lessons from Christchurch](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cimg7080-470x140.jpg)
The first time I went to Christchurch, like many tourists, I completely wrote it off. I arrived the day after the one year anniversary of the…
![#12 Walk on New Zealand's Franz Josef glacier](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ice-470x140.jpg)
The night before I went on the Franz Josef glacier I saw a couple shivering over the hot soup offered by the hostel. “Have you…