First part of my journey to South America… Yeh!!! I’m here at Puerto Montt; after flying from Brisbane to Sydney.. then to Santiago…. then to Puerto Montt..then hiring a car and driving for an our in peak holiday traffic in one way streets on the opposite side of the road than to which I am accustomed.. I am now here in Puerto Montt and a few hours in the morning I will be driving six hours to Chiloe – an area of beautiful islands, where I will be staying in a B&B on Lemuy Island – a small remote rural island where I will acclimatise myself to the time zone shift – in preparation for my Osorno climb on the week-end.

It has been some time since I have posted – so I thought I would update everyone on my journey right now… I’m in Chile to climb Osorno volcano and then on to Antarctica.

I feel so incredibly privileged to be able to have this opportunity.

The past month I have achieved some wonderful milestones…and I feel like there is a sense of new beginnings for me; where I have completed things from the past and moving toward a much more nourishing and enriching way of feeling fulfilled in how I spend my life.

I have had amazing adventures over the past year, and yet during that time wasn’t able to continue doing something I worked so wholeheartedly toward in doing something I really wanted to do, am gifted in and love; and it has taken me some time, and longer than I anticipated to reconcile that it is time for me to truly let that go.

In moving to a new peace within myself I needed to complete things… I didn’t want to keep having things lingering, and although there were some things that were out of my hands; I looked at what I could do myself personally which marked and symbolized that I was actually completing things and moving to a fresh and new place of contentment.

I set myself goals… I had a bigger picture of what I wanted to complete before this journey now, and I broke it up into smaller achievable segments.

I have completed my book “With the Roof Off”; a journal of my adventures with Max and Penny, our 1923 Vauxhall through India, Bhutan and Myanmar; and it is being printed whilst I am away. This process for me was driven by commitment to actually achieve a goal I had set myself . For the past couple of years, I have had wonderful intentions, but I just never seemed to be accomplishing anything, so to be dedicated to this project and see it through from journey; to concept; to design; to having it printed and self-published; and actually feel like I had achieved something I set out to do – feels very rewarding.

“The Shape of Cold” is my second project, which is a book of my black and white images from my previous visit to Antarctica in 2014. It is a beautiful book and my first self-published copies I will be using for artist samples to perhaps approach publishing houses for retail; or either self-publish a limited edition of them as artist collectors books. I will let those ideas mature and get more clarity on that one as I spend time in the spaces of silence in the natural environment of Chile and Antarctica.

My third goal was to prepare for a physical and mental challenge of summiting the Osorno Volcano; across a glacier with crampons and an ice axe. This has been an amazing journey for me. I spontaneously flew to Canberra, hired a car and drove to Thredbo and walked to the highest part of Australia – to see whether my fitness would even come close to what is required of this extreme challenge. I walked 60km over the 3 days…. 30kms up – and 30kms down… and I was fine. I walked in a 60 knot headwind which was amazing!!! You can see my short video by clicking here and some iphone photos of the most beautiful highland landscape in the Snowy mountains region of Mt Kosciuszko.

So… after my preparation of PT session; running up mountains; dance classes; nutritional guidance; I will have the opportunity in just a few days to experience walking on another sacred part of this earth… and I will be doing so with the intention of respect and heightened awareness.

Following my climb I will be spending a few days in a small town and then flying to Punta Arenas to meet with my girlfriend and travelling with a group of wonderful photographers to Antarctica – for a second time. There is something about Antarctica. It is alluring. It is captivating. The silence and the feelings I had when I was there , was like nothing I can even adequately describe… and I feel like I am being called back to experience more of it’s mystery.

For both of my adventures; Osorno and Antarctica: I will be giving myself the opportunity to listen deeply from within; to witness how I respond to challenging circumstances and be open to listen to the whispers of my intuition and the knowing which filters through me from that which is beyond.

For all those who have been following Penny’s transit back to Australia… she is on her way back to the farm now.. and should be back home later today!

I will be posting some updates and photogrpahs on my Blog Journal, and for those who like facebook … if you wish to send me a friend request, you can also see my updates of my adventures there as well. Julie’s Facebook Page