Hi, We're Ken and Cally Hardaker. We're 50 something empty nesters who love traveling. But when we're not on the road we are at home in Tasmania, Australia - a fabulous place to live.
We're going to spend 2016 having a Gap Year traveling through South, Central and North America and the Caribbean. If you want to follow or travels or to know about past adventures in Tassie and beyond you might find our blog of interest.
This is a new blog being launched January 2016. We've put in some posts of past travels to give you an idea of where we've been so far and also a feel for the style.
We'll be building the blog as we go, regularly adding content through out our travels. And while we hope you will find these interesting we also want to hear from other travellers with tips and stories of their travels.
If you fill in the email box we'll keep you posted.
Why Dodgy Knees?
Yes, we do have dodgy knees - both of us, but we are determined not to use them as an excuse for sitting at home with our feet up. As a couple in our fifties we are keen to make the most of the time we have over the next few years to explore as much of the world as we can, particularly in visiting places where we haven't been.
Fabulous Tassie
Mount Olympus Tasmania: ms.akr
Tasmania (Tassie) has a lot to offer. It's a very liveable small city with a lot going on. We've written about some of our favourite places in and around Hobart. We also like to get out into the Tasmanian bush and have described some walks that we think are worthwhile ranging from a few hours to several days.
Plans for 2016
Christ the redeemer, rio
We have ambitious plans for 2016. We will start our trip in Santiago in Chile in January, travel down to Patagonia, then head up through Argentina before following the Atlantic coast from Uruguay to Brazil all the way to Guyana. After exploring the north of the continent we plan travel the Caribbean, Central America, the US and Canada to Alaska.
In the past Uruguay has generally not featured on many South American travellers' itineraries, particularly those with limited time where the focus tends to be on the continent's big attractions, such as Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Rio, and Patagonia. But that is changing. Lonely Planet ranked it #8 in countries to visit in 2016 and tourists are increasingly discovering that Uruguay has a lot to offer. We spent two and a half weeks travelling from the North West of the country to the South East border with Brazil. Here is a bit about our experience.