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World tour
  • Are they there yet
  • India Curran
  • Dale Curran
  • Are they there yet
  • India Curran
  • Dale Curran
  • Robyn Ford

World tour

A 188-day adventure by Are they there yet, India, Dale & Robyn Read more
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  • World tour

    Delos

    July 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Names (based on b’days/months)
    India - Apollo (21st may same same)
    Keyala - Hera (Roman equivalent Juno aka June)
    Ariah - Artemis (cause born of 20th May and 12th May and is other May baby cause apollos taken)
    Dale - Zeus (cause idk the date but says 700 BC that’s a long time ago and dads old too)
    Kylie - Athena (cause august, A’s b’day, is closest to mums July)

    Today we went to Delos (birthplace of Apollo and Artemis), it was very hot and there was heaps of old buildings which were pretty cool to see as well as mosaics. There were plaques and rocks.

    Delos island, is the birthplace of India’s favourite god Apollo ☀️, who has the same birthday as her and always seems to be sending his sun’s rays directly at her ☀️🌅☀️🏛️    Read more

  • World tour

    Mykonos

    July 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    We island hopped 🏝️ to Mykonos which was a slightly different experience to the last time Kylie was there. There were less paradise beach bars giant cocktails and creepy old dudes this time.

    We spent our short visit hunting for the Hemsworths who were seen on the island for their Dads birthday a few days earlier. Unfortunately we missed the bus to their location at Ornos beach due to a heavy black moon boot slowing us down.

    Instead we stayed with the crowds in maze of streets in little Venice. Dale had a stint at being a Dad of Instagram for our DIY flying dress photo #ontrend next to the famous windmills. We took a dip in the turquoise waters at the beach looking back over the pretty white houses of the town.

    As we got back on our ferry we saw a private jet fly overhead. The next day the Hemsworths were spotted in Spain.    Read more

  • World tour
    1

    Parian marble sculpting

    July 12, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Inspired by Venus de Milo and the statue of Nike in the louvre, the Currans decided to try our hands at sculpting using the same Parian marble as those famous artworks.

    We hired a car and drove through the mountains stopping at a marble quarry along the way and sneaking through the fence for a closer peak at where our raw materials would have come from.

    We arrived at the picturesque studio of French artist JB who would guide us then let us loose on the grinders and other power tools needed to find our art in the pieces of rock we started with (even the 10 year old). We were a bit nervous about our teacher being a French artist but JB was genuinely a lovely person. We were also sharing the workshop with two others from where else but Wollongong!

    Keyala’s project was an organic shaped bowl. India opted for a complex marble goblet. Kylie recreated a Cycladic style face and Ariah created a jewellery dish adorned with a sun, a dragonfly and a moon. Dale helped us all.

    We worked past the sun setting, covered in dust and with a little more sanding and polishing to go. But we were very proud of our creations. We’re just wondering how many kilos Keyala has left in her luggage to take them home.    Read more

  • World tour
    11

    The world of butterflies

    July 12, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we went on a long car drive in our green Chevrolet Spark rental car to a butterfly natural park. When we got there we realised that there were actually Jersey Tiger moths but they also went through metamorphosis (egg, lava, pupae, adult) just like butterflies. Many of the butterfly/ moths were sleeping. Some flew around us showed and us there red wings. It was a nice way to escape the heat of the day.Read more

  • World tour
    22This is Dale about to swim out to collect our boat from the mooringA random ancient monument on despotikas island

    The island of Antiparos

    July 13, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Our island hopping has continued with a trip to Antiparos, which means “opposite Paros”. We hired a little dinghy from Aliki in Paros and set off across the sea. Keyala can not shake her sore throat so she had a day resting in the hotel.

    Our first stop was in between two islands in a swimming spot called the blue lagoon with turquoise waters. From there we headed to Antiparos and explored some caves along the shoreline.

    We stopped for lunch at a little seafood taverna. There was no place to dock the boat so Dale dropped us to shore, left the boat on a mooring and had to swim back in. He was in need of a good drink after the experience and so we had a couple of cocktails by the seaside.

    A bit more cave swimming and it was time to head back. Unfortunately the meltemi winds had picked up by then and the trip across the sea to Paros was a bit bumpy. We made it back with a layer of saltiness all over us and smiles on our faces.

    Soft homemade pasta for dinner with some limoncello to help the sore throat.    Read more

  • World tour
    2

    Pisa livadi

    July 15, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    An afternoon dip at Pisa livadi to get out of the heat. Keyala having a tonsillitis sleep on the beach.

    The water was so still and salty that you could float like you were in a hammock. Very cool.

  • World tour

    Island life

    July 15, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Its exhausting living on an island for 2 and a half weeks 😂

    Off to Skopelos tomorrow.

  • World tour

    Goodbye Paros

    July 16, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    After a wonderful 2-1/2 weeks in Paros, it was bitter sweet to leave today.
    It was sad to say goodbye to the amazing Irini, and Illias, George and the rest of the hard working staff at Marinero but it was time to head towards the next Greek island.

    So off to Athens we went again, only this time we got to bring Keyala (albeit a still very sick, but hopefully slowly mending, Keyala).

    We got to play Athens tour guide (isn’t she lucky?!) so off we went…Hadrian’s Gate, our favourite yogurt bar, souvenir shops, Acropolis, and finally to our favourite (at least Dale’s) restaurant in Greece, To Kati Allo.

    A whirlwind but Keyala seemed to enjoy it nonetheless ☺️    Read more

  • World tour

    Mamma Mia chapel

    July 18, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We’ve arrived in Skopelos and no trip to Mamma Mia island would be complete without a Mamma Mia tour!

    We had a movie night last night to re-watch Mamma Mia and had a bit of a singalong and pizza.

    First stop on the tour was the wedding chapel Agios Ionnais, where Meryl and Pierce sing Winner takes it all.

    It’s 199 steps to the top and the views are spectacular. Kylie’s newly unbooted foot made it up around 100 if the steps so she stopped half way to working on evening out her leg tan.

    Keyala and Ariah belted out some karaoke at the top of the chapel. Mum was playing Abba on the way back down which everyone loved.    Read more

  • World tour

    Beach of Villa Donna

    July 18, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Next stop on the Mamma Mia tour was a olive oil factory where the olive oil grew on trees.

    Our favourite stop on the tour was Kastani beach. Apparently this beach was natural and ‘untouch-ed’ (in the tour guide’s Greek English) before the movie. The beach was used for the diary scene “Honey honey”, the jetty scenes, the beach bar scene “does your mother know”, and the scene with Sky and Sophia “Don’t go wasting your emotions”. The beach bar and jetty were built for the movie and then removed to leave the beach ‘untouch-ed’. However a few years later the beach became ‘very well organiz-ed’ with beach bar and umbrellas. It was a very popular beach but very beautiful.

    From Kastani you could see the “little island” that Donna rowed out to with her fellas.

    From the distance we saw Amarandos cove where Sophie and her Dads stopped for lunch.

    We had an amazing lunch at the taverna in Agnontas - great Saganaki and salad!

    It was great to see all these famous locations but even better to get our bearings and a small glimpse into the island to pick the places we want to come back and explore.    Read more

  • World tour

    Sunset Kayak

    July 20, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Today we woke up and went up to breakfast. Then we had a mostly quiet pool morning then we went to lunch. We had gyros. After lunch we went on a drive to where we get on our sunset kayak 🌅. On the kayak we went through a tunnel and through rocks. We stopped on a beach to have a snack and a snorkel 🤿. We saw lots of little fish 🐟. When we paddled home in the sunset Keyala and Ariah were singing to keep them going. When it was over we went to the bar on the beach and had a drink 🧋. Then we drove home all tired 🥱. And had dinner at finikas the food was really good. After diner we went straight to sleep 💤 💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱💤💤💤 by AriahRead more

  • World tour

    Panormasly good Beach days

    July 24, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    The weather has been heating up. There is a heatwave through Greece. Bushfires are raging on Corfu, Rhodes and Evia. Luckily they haven’t hit Skopelos because those pine trees would burn well.

    Our daily routine has been breakfast at 9.30, stay in the air conditioning doing school work until it cools down, embracing the Greek siesta, then head to the beach in the afternoon and stay until well past sunset. We’ve had a few midnight dinners. The shops are still open then. Today we took the bus to Panormas beach and had dinner on the beach.

    Ariah has lost two teeth in Skopelos and has 5 euros to spend. Stay tuned.    Read more

  • World tour

    Evening Voltas in Skopelos

    July 25, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    The physio has given Kylie a tough treatment plan of walking along the port and swimming to try and get rid of her new limp. We’ve been happily following the plan and adding frappes, smoothies, beers, cocktails and Ice cream to the mix. The port is the only flat area on the island so a good place to practice walking faster without a limp.

    The daytime temperatures have been high 30s which is actually cooler than the rest of Greece but the locals are saying it’s very hot for Skopelos. Actually the night temps have stayed high 30s too. We’ve started to see some smog and smoke coming over from the fires in Volos. The fire station is just down the road from the hotel and the firies are all stationed around the island. The forest is out of bounds for everyone.

    India and Ariah have been to nearly every shop in Skopelos. Ariah spent her tooth fairy money on a pretty evil eye and infinity necklace.

    We’ve visited Spiros brewery, Stafylos beach for some water sports, Ta Kymata taverna. All great espespecially the extensive    Read more

  • World tour

    Beach and bike 🚲 🏖️

    July 27, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Today was so fun, so I'm going to tell you all about it.
    First we woke up and went down for breaky. we packed some food from the buffet and caught a bus to Stafylos beach. It was very windy and hot but there was no shade exept for a small spot near the stairs. Which in about an hour turned sunny.
    We had cheese and bickies for lunch I made a savory ice cream using a tornado chips with cheese as the ice cream. Then we went on the water sofa which was REALLY fun!

    After that Dad and I skimmed some rocks.
    Then we packed up, and headed home to get ready for bike riding.

    The bike ride started off kind of hard because we were in a river bed. then it got a little better. We stopped on the top of the mountain to have snack and we saw the sunset. After the snack we rode home in the dark but we turned on our lights.

    We stopped at a church that had a nice view and a well ie. bottle re-filler. Then we rode home through the port. And had dinner at a pizza place and we took some home for lunch tomorrow. Once we get home we all went straight to sleep 💤.

    By Ariah xoxo    Read more

  • World tour
    Skopelos at night

    In your deepest voice: “Alonnisos”

    July 30, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    One thing we’ll never forget from Skopelos is the awesome announcements from one of the bus drivers of the stops he was approaching.

    In a deep, gravely voice: “Pahh-norr-mooss”, “Skop-eee-loosss” 😁

    So even islands reached by boat now are announced the same way in Dale’s mind 🤣

    And so it was we headed to “A-lonn-i-soooss” for our last day in the Sporades islands.

    On a tricked out ferry (well, I’m sure it was considered tricked out at some stage) we headed over and jumped on a bus up to the old town.
    A cute little village that was built right up against a cliff face at the very top of a hill to help defend from pirates 🏴‍☠️

    We only really had time for some quick shopping and some ice cream though - oh, and to get lost in the winding streets for a bit 😳 - before we jumped back onto our ferry and headed to our next stop at Leftos Beach for an afternoon of swimming.
    Ariah loved this stop as she got to jump off the very top of the ferry into the water!!

    We headed back to Skopelos late afternoon and decided to head over to a restaurant overlooking the sea and at the base of the ruins of a Venetian castle and listen to the traditional Greek music being played by the locals. ❤️🇬🇷    Read more

  • World tour

    Quick stop in Thessaloniki

    August 1, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    So we’ve finished our Greek Island tour and it’s time to ramp back up to tour speed for Türkiye and SE Asia, but we managed to squeeze in one last part of Greece before then.

    After a lazy last few hours on Skopelos (and fortunately no broken appendages this time) we caught the ferry to Thessaloniki, arriving pretty late.

    Our AirBnB for the night was in a pretty cool little area and we managed to find a Georgian restaurant just across from us.
    They were packed outside so we took a seat inside - turns out everyone was outside avoiding the group of 70+’s that we’re having a birthday party and someone had let control the playlist and volume on the sound system.
    Once the waiter heard our order and after a few attempts to find the vegetarian options, we had a great Georgian meal.

    The next day before heading to the airport we squeezed in a visit to the palace of Emperor Galerius and his triumphal arch and then head to the CBD for ice cream and a rest in the grass in the mall 💤    Read more

  • World tour
    1

    Chic Airbnb in Historic Instabul

    August 2, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We arrived in Istanbul at around 1am after a few flight delays. We were excited to be coming into a new culture and language and also interested in finding out about the Turkish side is the story. The Greeks and Cypriots are not big fans of the Turks.

    We got picked up from the airport in a disco taxi and dropped off on a random corner that the driver believed was our Airbnb.

    The truth is we went way over budget on our accommodation in Greece so we had booked into a cheaper Airbnb in Istanbul which seemed quirky and cool in the pictures and descriptions. We got dropped off by our disco taxi in a super sketchy neighbourhood full of graffiti, random cats, broken walls and doors.

    Our internet wasn’t working so Dale’s walked up and down the street looking for our apartment. He was convinced the address we’d been given was for an abandoned building without electricity so kept looking.

    Nope. The abandoned building was our ‘Chic Airbnb in historic building in the heart of Istanbul’. The hallway was filthy, full of cats, paint peeling off walls and electrical wires hanging off the roof. There was a smell of smoke and dampness. Inside the apartment it was steaming. The place smelt mouldy and the couch and bathroom were full of mildew. The ‘spacious bedrooms’ were like closets and Ariah was too scared to sleep alone so jumped into our tiny bed.

    It was quirky inside but there was no ventilation and the recent heatwave obviously had some bad affects on the apartment.

    Next morning we moved out to another hotel with breakfast, a pool, sauna and day spa. So much for our budget.    Read more

  • World tour
    1

    Istanbul not Constantinople

    August 2, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    After a rocky start with our accommodation, some fresh authentic pide, a few pieces of baklava, and a walk to the port of Galata to see two continents at once and our Türkiye leg is off and running!

  • World tour

    Foodies in two continents

    August 3, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We joined a couple of cool locals today for a food tour across across two continents.
    First thing we did was jump on a ferry and cross over to Anatolia - the Asian side of the city which gave us a great view of the ruins of the Byzantine sea walls and the sites in Old Town. (Pretty cool if you’ve spent the last few years listening to a podcast on the history of the Roman/Byzantine Empire 😜🤓).

    Like every food tour we came hungry and our first stop didn’t disappoint when we sat down to sample a genuine Turkish doner kebab!
    A bit different from what we have in Aus though as it was just meat and a few pickles and hot chips.
    No “garlic, chilli, humous, tabouli”….it hides the flavour of the meat we were told; only dodgy operators with low quality meat do that to hide/add flavour. 😳🤔
    A that wasn’t the only weird difference at our first stop. It seems that “American style burgers” are very popular in with the new generations in Türkiye - but when the sauce is on the OUTSIDE of the burger, we weren’t so sure. Still it was pretty tasty but it was time to move on.

    As we walked we chatted with Ahmet and Eren about the history of the city, the locals now, politics, good bars, football (a.k.a. soccer), how through a flare at a ref leads to a 2 year ban from stadiums (Eren 🤦‍♂️), and how they spent their days.
    They had made some changes to the normal tour so that Kylie actually got something to eat - they were polite enough to keep checking if Kylie might just like to try liver or fish just in case though 😜
    But they scored points when we stop for a Turkish rice and chickpea dish called pilaf which was a buttery/nutty fat rice. Kylie took mental notes so we could pass on the recipe to our University daughter 😆
    Dale was stoked with this place though as he got to sample the local ayran. A salty goats yogurt/milk drink that he tried years ago with a mentor at work who was Turkish. Turns out only Dale was a fan in the end though 🤣

    …to be continued    Read more

  • World tour
    3

    Street food 2

    August 3, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Part 2…

    Then it was time for the traditional “Dale and India try something weird” moment so we headed to the next store for some sheep’s intestines - kokoreç - and rice stuffed mussels - midye dolma.
    Ariah was “already full” so she didn’t try these but Ind got into the mussels having a couple of free ones and Dale and her demolished the kokoreç. The trick it seems is not think as you eat……🫣

    Ariah’s stomach miraculously had more room though as we got to the gozleme shop. By then though Ind and Dale were already starting to struggle to fit more but luckily, along with pide, this was one of the top reasons Kylie had Türkiye on the itinerary in the first place. The Büyükanne making the gozleme didn’t disappoint either - it was very yum. However, when it came out we were surprised there was no lemon slices with it! Instead there was big chunk of butter that were were told to rub all over the steaming hot, fresh slices - cause gozleme is not all ready oily enough it seems 🤣
    Our guides were a bit taken back when Kylie suggested that some slices of lemon would be in order so it was a good thing that the butter tasted pretty good.

    Then, as a special vege addition we went to get some çig köfte - vegan kofta made from semolina.
    Ahmet told us that kofte came from a time long ago when the ancient King Nemrut banned fires in his kingdom after failing to burn the Prophet Ibrahim so the people would make these meatballs with spices and bulgur and kneeled for hours until ready.

    Barely able to walk we were so full, we crossed back over to the other side of the Bosphorus and went to a cafe to try knafeh and Turkish coffee.

    It was a great tour - we spent about 4 hours with Ahmet and Eren and learnt a lot about the city - but didn’t even have dinner that night when we got home. So. Much. Food!!!    Read more

  • World tour
    The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend itChurch of St. Anthony of Padua, Istanbul

    Ariah’s Day

    August 4, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Today was SOOO fun because it was my day. Which means we do whatever I want for the whole day.

    So we started the day having breaktast at 10:30. I didn’t eat that much because I was saving up for the day.

    After breaky we went to Starbucks I got a hibiscus refresher. It was really good.
    After that, we went handbag shopping and I bought a pretty purple bag and I suddenly turned stuff holder.

    We went macca's for lunch. I had a McChicken meal and churros with caremel and chocolate sauce.

    After lunch we went to Taksim Square where there was a big statue. The statue was about the starting of the republic.

    After looking at the plaques and that we went we went to a tower. We were going to go up it but everyone was so hot and tired we decided to go home.

    On the way we went past a boba 🧋 place and India and I had a fizzy boba tea with strawberry flavour. India liked it more than I did. After boba we went back to the hotel to rest.

    When we were done resting we went to a jazz restaurant for dinner 🍽️. Mum and Dad had cocktails. For dinner I had chicken nuggets with chips they were surprisingly good. After dinner we I got some lollies from a mini market across the road.
    When we got back to the hotel everyone went straight to sleep 💤.    Read more

  • World tour

    Hammam-a, she said hammam-a!!

    August 5, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    The girls needed to catch up on some homework today, so Dale and Kylie decided it was time for a bath…and it turns out we might have needed it more than we thought 😳

    We caught a taxi into the old town to wash off at the baths that were built for a very well know (and somewhat scandalous) wife of a Sultan.
    The taxi ride alone was an adventure as our drive weaved between traffic whilst simultaneously catching up on his Insta scrolling on his phone and his Turkish soaps on the iPad. Skillz!!

    We made it though and the hammam we walked into was amazing!
    The building was built atfor Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, in the 16th century (1556-1557 AD) on the same place as the ancient public baths of Zeuxippus (100-200 AD) and is right between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.

    We were in separate ends of the massive building though in both cases the bathing itself was definitely an experience, highlighted by the somewhat violent scrubbing that resulted in a disturbing amount of dead skin and dirt falling to the bath floor 😱😶‍🌫️
    Guess that’s evidence we’ve been backpacking properly 🤔😜

    The bubble was/massage after that though was very relaxing, at least until we were drowned by buckets of water as they washed us off that is!

    Feeling spic and span, we relaxed with a cup of tea and Turkish delights before heading back to the girls to get ready for our adventure that night!    Read more

  • World tour
    1

    What a great segue!

    August 5, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    With homework and Hammam all done, it was time we bathed ourselves in some Istanbul history!
    (You like that?)

    We always love a good walking tour of a new city but we thought we’d try something different this go around so it was time to learn a new skill and test our balance (and Kylie’s newly healed ankle).

    Jumping on the segways turned out to be a amazing way to take in a massive city that Dale especially had been really looking forward to seeing.
    Ariah took to the Segway like a natural and was pretty quickly zooming around in the waiting area whilst the rest of us got up to speed.
    I think that was probably the last time we were near her really as zoomed off to the front of the pack with the guide - putting him under pressure sometimes too!

    Zooming around Istanbul at night we got great views of the Hagia Sofia, Sultan Ahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque) and the beautiful architecture of bunch of other mosques, the Topkapi Palace Walls, the column of Constantine, and stop for a rest and to take in the breathtaking view from the grounds of the mosque of Suliman the Magnificent.

    We also stopped at the ancient zero marker from which all distances in the Roman/Byzantine Empire were measured - which Kylie did get a little Civil Engineer Fangirl about 😝👷‍♀️

    It was a late night but very fun!    Read more

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