“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” – Gandalf

When we last updated the blog around 5 months ago, we were quite settled in to our new home and the Mediterranean lifestyle. After exploring and discovering countless gems on this special little island, we were beginning to ponder some adventures further afield. True to form we went full steam ahead and although the photos probably best tell the story, here’s a snippet of what we have been up to….

Austria / Germany

For the Easter school holidays we flew to Vienna and spent a couple of weeks backpacking through Austria and Germany – we explored magical palaces and castles, ventured deep inside ice caves and salt mines, we ate schnitzels by mountain lakes and saw classical music in glorious historical churches. We wandered the world’s oldest zoo and danced in beer halls drinking brews (and that’s it for the rhyming).

With summer on its way, Cyprus in May was afterschool kiteboard sessions, discovering more of this special island, a Duathlon (run and ocean swim) and we even watched the Dockers actually win a game on TV!

London Town

The team was separated for a couple of weeks until early June whilst Rach was in South America for work, but we got to rendezvous in London, and even better was catching up with besties from Perth and hanging with them and their incredible London based family. The Lion King Musical in the West End, The Natural History Museum, SkyGarden, Platform 9 ¾, street art (Banksy) and chasing squirrels in Hyde Park were a few highlights. Big Ben is currently undergoing restoration work much to Lani’s disappointment…

Greece

Returning home to Cyprus where we rather impatiently counted down the days to the arrival of Team Chandler and Marnie at the end of June… a week here to show the family some of our favourite places around the island before we all set off to explore Greece for 3 spectacular weeks. From the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, theatre, science and the arts – to the birthplace of Zeus and the gods of Mount Olympus….from mainland cities to island villages including a little island called Santorini where we got to celebrate Aunty Nika’s 40^th in style. There were castles, water parks and heatwaves in Crete before we flew north back to the mainland to hike around Mount Olympus and then explore the utterly amazing monasteries around Meteora. After a tearful good- bye to our family at Athens airport, we ducked home to Cyprus for 6 days to unpack, then repack for a 5 week trip to Argentina where Rach had a work assignment.

Argentina

Buenos Aires is an experience more than a destination. Home to around 16 million people it is unlike any other city we have visited. The culture, the history, the people and what they have been through, make this a truly remarkable place to live for a while. The unique opportunity for us to spend 5 weeks in (almost) the same place provided us with a different travel experience. Rach had lots of work to do and travelled to various Latin American cities during the week, while Paulie, Zekie and Lani became quite the locals in our inner-city neighbourhood of Palermo (especially at the local empanada store) and little celebrities enjoying the Boca Juniors futbol match at La Bombonera. We managed to sneak in a few side trips on the weekends out to Mendoza, home to the world-famous wineries in the foothills of the Andes, and another trip up to Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil….one of the seven natural wonders of the world.   

After so much travel, it has been wonderful returning to our peaceful island life in Cyprus. Zeke and Lani have settled back into a new school year, making new friends and still impressing us every day as they continue to grow up far too fast.

Our next adventure is booked, of course, and we are all so very excited about returning to Australia for a month to spend Christmas with family and friends, who we are all missing dearly.