Time to step aside, self-doubt

The point of life, of human existence, is to be creative, right? Surely.  To enjoy the feeling of something flowing from your fingertips, through whichever medium you choose, that must be the reason we are here. Whether it’s a keyboard, the letters lightly jumping back from your touch, a brushstroke, wet paint glistening in its …

Iceland – white knuckles and waterfalls

In March of last year, I travelled to Iceland. For those from Europe or the States, you’re thinking, big whoop, my sister/boss/dad’s friend and his dog travelled there last year. But for someone from the other side of the world, Iceland was mildly terrifying. I pored over rental car websites and forums written by Norwegian …

winter poetry

Read it aloud, like all poetry should be read. Go on...   A thousand stars just out of reach Their light a dying shine The early morning sky will leach Those twilight sparkling lines A new day dawns, the sky sparks red Burning sun over the horizon Warm limbs across a sheet strewn bed Reluctance …

A village secret

Ana swished her skirts around shapely brown ankles as she wandered the cobbled streets. Her leather shoes made a soft scuffing sound against the old stone as she walked, both materials worn smooth by years of use. She was only a few minutes from home, the brown door waiting for her, just a few stairs …

Body love and boobies

I’ve decided to love my breasts. Finally. I have spent too long hating and berating them, thinking nasty thoughts and saying mean things to them, about them. Thinking that they look like sad fried eggs on my chest. I used to watch young YouTubers parade around their rooms and show off their surgery scars, their …

my mum – superwoman in a cocktail dress

My mother is superwoman in a cocktail dress. Or at least that’s what my Chinese astrology book says, the one that I pull out at barbecues to make everyone groan. People may scoff but I think there's a certain amount of truth to the little paragraphs in those pages, the tiny soundbites of peoples' projected …

Colombia Diary Entry

14th August 2014 - Tayrona, Colombia The thin page of my notebook is flapping in the breeze. It feels flimsy to write on, almost wet, warm and muggy from the damp humidity. Something stings on my ankle, and a hand slaps down to catch it, brushing sand loose. My hair is coarse and wet with the …

dirt biking the Sacred Valley

We dirt biked the Sacred Valley last week. When we set out from Cusco the day was warm, the sun hot and beating as we slathered sunblock onto shoulders, only a tiny hint of morning chill in the air. We topped the bike up with gas at a tiny petrol pump on one of the …

un sol

I am writing this on my iPhone, the tiny white screen and jumpy autocorrect not really conducive to creativity. But so much has happened in the last couple of weeks! The sand I am sitting on is warm and coarse, the strong breeze that pulls my hair from my shoulders is chilly, raising goosebumps along …

practice – not long now

We're going to South America soon. Our tickets are booked and waiting, a space for us reserved on some LAN Chile manifest sheet. Our backpacks are empty and expectant, a smug 38L, ready to be carted across insanely expansive plains and up the mountains of the Andes. I haven't thought much about it until now. …