Greetings all! It has been a while since we last posted. It isn’t because the past month hasn’t been interesting, but it was much different than we anticipated. I figured by June 3rd we would have posted numerous blogs about our adventurous tour of the east coast of Australia; life however has a way of changing things.
I think most of you are aware that I have been dealing with a back/hip issue for our whole trip. Things got worse last November, but we were committed to seeing what this wonderful world has to offer. When we hit the road for the second leg of the trip it was with a “suck it up and deal with the pain” attitude (my words…not Autumn’s). While that approach worked for a while, eventually, it wore thin. Even with good meds and physical therapy, normal activities such as hiking, swimming, sleeping became a painful endeavor. Near the end of our time in New Zealand Autumn and I decided that we need to cut the trip short and head back to the US to get me healed. It wasn’t a lot of fun being on the far side of the world, taking the time and spending the money to be there, but not being able to do the activities we enjoy.
So, here we are. We are back in Minnesota enjoying the start of summer and spending a lot of time with doctors and in xray and MRI machines. I think we are finally getting clear on what the issue has been (tear in my hip) and what the path to healing looks like (potential surgery). It has been a long time coming, but it is nice to gain some clarity.
Both of us are very happy to be back with friends, family, and in places that are familiar. Autumn is pumped that we don’t have to research & plan out the details of our everyday such as where we are going to eat, sleep, and explore. That said, the further we get away from our travels the more dream-like they become. The phrase “did we actually do that?” has come up more times than I can count. It is very easy to fall back into routines, which emphasizes the need for us to continue to remember the amazing things we were fortunate enough to see and do.
When reflecting back on our adventures we can honestly say that neither of us have any regrets. We understand that a trip like that isn’t for everyone, but the growth in knowledge and experience that we gained far outweighed any of the difficulties we faced along the way.
We want to thank you for following us throughout our journey and for all of the kind words and support that you provided along the way. I don’t think we will be rushing out to do it again in the near term, but more travel (of shorter duration) is definitely on the horizon! We would be happy to share insights, stories, pictures, or recommendations if anyone is interested. There is truly a great big wonderful world out there that we encourage you all to explore. If we can assist in helping you do that, just let us know!
Until we meet again!
Drew and Autumn