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Middle Aged Misadventures, Brisbane (2026)

30/04/2025

It took me far too long to organise my thoughts around the last day of my Highlands tour, after travelling from the Isle of Skye, back to Edinburgh, straight to the airport, and 26+ hours travelling home. Once home, I couldn’t help but crash as I prepared to go back to work the next day.

My final day, I was greeted by our driver at the planned pick-up spot – and to my delight – he was dressed more Scottish than ever! Giddy with excitement, I requested a photo for posterity. After all the tourists had been collected from their respective hotels, our personal Scotsman educated us on the history of the kilt, including the functional uses, it’s banishment after the Jacobite revolution, and the evolution of the clan tartans. Of course, he addressed the age-old question of ‘what’s under the kilt’, claiming that it’s a state secret, however, “Nothing is worn under the kilt, as it’s all in working order”. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard in my life!

Our first stop after leaving Skye was back to Eilean Donan Castle which we had admired from afar just a few days ago. I was very excited to be up and close to this reminder of 80’s cult classic ‘Highlander’. This castle played the ancestral home of the Highlander Connor McLeod, ironically played by a Frenchman (in fact, the only Scot in the movie was Sean Connery, whom of course, played a Spaniard). The castle was painstakingly rebuilt after being destroyed in the 18th century during the Jacobite revolution. Its current owners reside in parts of the castle but make an absolute mint off tourists.

Our next stop was at the Commando Memorial, a solemn garden to remember fallen soldiers, located in the area where British commandos have been trained from 1939. It also has a panoramic view of the tallest peak in the UK, Ben Nevis. Unfortunately for us, our visit was on an overcast, foggy morning, but that didn’t stop us from taking many photos in the approximate direction.

Last stop for the day was at Doune Castle. Eagle eyed fans would recognise it from the very first episode of Game of Thrones ‘Winterfell’, but more keen Monty Python fans will know it from ‘The Holy Grail’. A place where if your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries, you will likely be taunted a second time!

After returning to Edinburgh and saying our farewells, it was time to start the trek back to Australia. Thank you for once again joining me on my whirlwind journey. I look forward to the next misadventure… as soon as my travel bug thaws out and the coffers are refilled!

26/04/2025

Friday on the Isle of Skye started with blue skies and slight warmer temps. But they have a saying here that you can experience all four seasons in one day, and they weren’t kidding! Sun, rain, wind and icy weather, kept us on our toes today!

A quick explore of Portree before meeting the bus included a stop at the local war memorial to pay my respects. Then it was time to meet the others from my group as we set off to do a lap of the island.

We had stops at the Old Man of Storr, Lealt Falls and Staffin beach, where we searched for dinosaur footprints in the rocks. Onto Quiraing walk (although we didn’t do the whole walk) which is know as the windiest place on the island - and I believe them.

A quick stop in Uig for a hot drink and bathroom break, before our guide drove us to the Fairy Glen to see if we could spot David Bowie.

More castles, fairy pools and sleeping giants, before completing our lap and finding our way back to Portree for some gift shopping and dinner.

Still some more places to see on Saturday as we make our way back to Edinburgh, so you haven’t quite seen the end of me yet! ❤️

24/04/2025

The last turntable ferry in action

24/04/2025

Halò faithful misadventurers, and welcome to the recap of day 3 of my whirlwind tour of the Scottish highlands.

This morning saw the most beautiful weather in the north west, that thankfully has followed us through to the Isle of Skye this afternoon.

Another Michelin worthy breakfast at the guest house I was bunked at, ensured I wouldn’t go hungry before our late lunch stop. We backtracked for a bit before turning back on the long and winding road that is known as the NC500 (North Coast 500 miles). It’s precarious in places as the majority of the road is a single lane, but the scenery is breathtaking.

More mountains and lochs than you can poke a stick at, but each one is different and we never hesitated when our driver stopped the bus and asked us if we wanted to get out and take pictures.

Today we were able to get up and close with the real draw card of the highlands…. The Highland Coos 😍

Our eagle eyed guide was quick to point out various wildlife for our viewing pleasure, even hard braking and backing up the road just outside of Applecross when he noticed a strange sight - deer on the beach (sounds like a weird cocktail).

We reached Applecross around 1pm, and stopped for lunch at the most popular Applecross Inn. Voted the most friendliest pub, it’s seen its fair share of celebrities. The notice board next to our table showed the King of Sparta had frequented the pub on at least three occasions.

The staff were indeed very friendly, and the food 👌🏻. I ended up having the Chicken Supreme which was mouth watering. After stuffing ourselves silly, we were ready for the next leg of the journey.

From Applecross we were to take the crossing known as Bealach Na Ba, which I believe roughly translates to Pass of cows (?), but basically these roads were mapped out by the path cattle would take as it was usually the easiest way. Usually. If I thought the single lane roads were hairy before…..😳 (and let’s not mention the cyclists - crazy people!!)

One final stop before we popped onto a ferry for the Isle. Our driver referred to this pit stop as the ‘loo with a view’, the view being Eilean Donan Castle. If you are an 80’s pop culture / cult classic movie lover, you might recognise this ruin…. If not, I’ll reveal its significance later as we have to come back this way on Saturday, and I’ve been promised that we’ll stop there and have a look through it.

The ferry is another fascinating story. From Glenelg to Kylerhea, it is the last remaining turntable ferry in the world! It was tiny compared to other ferries, and overpriced for a 5 minute journey, but it was certainly a sight to see in action.

This brings us to the Isle of Skye! After a quick lap of Portree to point out all the places to eat, we were dropped off at our respective guesthouses for the night. We’ll spend the day exploring the isle tomorrow. So stay tuned ❤️

23/04/2025

Where to start with today? Still trying to wrap my head around how much I’ve seen these last few days.

Today was a ‘day trip’ from Ullapool, and we couldn’t have done more than 100miles in total, but it still took us all day to soak in this part of the highlands.

Mountains, mountains, and yes, more mountains as far as the eyes can see. It is the Scottish highlands after all. Also lochs, lots and lots of lochs. Our guide has been keeping us entertained with tidbits and trivia, and completely stunned us all with just how many lochs there are in Scotland…. Over 31…… THOUSAND!! 😵

He’s also been sending us out on side quests when we’re stopped, and I do love a friendly competition. One particular task was to identify the scent of the yellow flowered bushes growing everywhere. Sounds easy enough….. WARNING!! These buggers have ridiculously sharp needles instead of leaves, and to get close enough to breathe them in, you risk impalement and possibly a bandaid or two 🩹.

I did however, manage to get a whiff, and I was transported back to my youth. It smelled just like these scented felt tip pens my mother bought me back when they were a thing. There was one pen in the set (can’t remember the colour), and it had an overpowering stink when you took the lid off….. what was it?? That’s right, coconut. Others guessed other more likely plant scents, but turns out I was right! Scotland is covered in these invasive yellow flowered bushes with sharp pointy thorns, that smell just like coconut 🤷🏼‍♀️

Another thing I wouldn’t have guessed about Scotland is how many beaches it has - yes, beaches! I’ve been to 3 today just outside one small harbour town. You really do learn something new everyday.

Last stop of the day was at Ardvreck Castle. Or what’s left of it. There’s also the remains of a house known as Calda House a short walk away. Story here is some guy called Macleod built this castle for his misses, but she didn’t care for it, so he built the house. Then some blokes from the Mackenzie clan thought they’d move in. Then they both burned down….. 🤔 see photo caption for more….

Anyhoo, this post feels like it has gotten a bit long, so I’ll sign off for now. Tomorrow we head out to the Isle of Skye 🤗

22/04/2025

As I complete day one of my 5 day highlands tour, I can’t quite believe how much I’ve seen in the space of 10 hours.

Starting out from Edinburgh this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find there were only 6 other people booked for this tour - under half of what I was expecting.

Our first stop was in Dunkeld where a quick lap of the town revealed a lovely old cathedral that was being restored. But, despite the major works going on around it (part of it had no roof!), the congregation still meets there on Sundays, as proof by the worn pews and prayer books at the ready.

Our next stop was a lunch break in a holiday town called Aviemore. Not much going on here today, but I’m told in winter it becomes a pseudo ski resort.

After lunch our guide took us on the scenic route to a very famous area to do some hunting…… Alas, there were no sightings of *puts on best Scottish accent* wee Nessie.
Ol’ Steve the Nessie Hunter has been camped on the bank for 20 years and not caught a glimpse, so 20 minutes didn’t make much difference.

Another super quick stop in Beauly next to another medieval priory, before heading out to see Corrieshalloch Gorge. From here we then made our way into the harbour town of Ullapool, where the tour group will stay two nights, with a local sightsee trip tomorrow.

Weather has been pretty good, however I must be cold blooded, as even wearing about 18 layers, my teeth are still chattering outside 🥶

Have no idea where we’re off to tomorrow, but excited to find out!

22/04/2025

The rest of my time in Edinburgh was filled with exploring the city, clan shopping (as my hubs’ family has Scottish ancestry) and finding short tours that weren’t booked up.

I managed to get on 2 tours that had one ticket left - sometimes there’s an advantage to being a solo traveller. So I went on both the “Real Mary Kings Close” and later a Haunted Tombs and Graveyard tour (but I cant recall the actual tour name).

Love, love, love the history here. Loved the enthusiasm of the tour guides. I was enthralled and engaged, and despite best efforts, only almost scared 😜

We weren’t allowed to take photos in Mary Kings Close as the building above houses government offices, but I purchased the souvenir pic taken at the end. Can’t believe people used to live in such crowded areas with only this little laneway (a close) between the buildings.

The evening tour was hosted by Mercat Tours (pronounced like meercat the animal, but meaning market). I thoroughly recommend. My tour guide was Jared, and he was brilliant. Kinda looked like my big brother and we hit it off right from the start. They used audio assistance through the tour, so no matter where Jared was, I could hear everything he was saying like he was standing next to me - brilliant.

Jared took us underground to visit some tombs used throughout the Middle Ages, right up to the war. He spoke of the ghosts that have appeared to people and psychics and then surprisingly asked each of us where we were from - apparently, some of the spirits take a dislike to certain people….. one particlar nasty spirit seems to hate Aussies (what did we do), so I suddenly became the centre of attention and no one wanted to stand next to me 🤷🏼‍♀️. Another ghost took offence to women - so far I’m 2 for 2. Another didn’t care for people wearing new shoes, and since I was wearing a new pair of sneakers bought only hours ago, I completed a hat trick 🤪.

Best I got to a supernatural experience though was cold spots (and a rather unpleasant smell in Mary King Close), but I was already freezing my butt off, so who can really tell?

It was 10pm local time when I got back to the hotel, although the sun had only just gone down and the streets were still packed.

Today I’m heading to the highlands - not sure about phone service or wifi. But I’m sure I’ll have plenty of photos to share later! ❤️❤️❤️

21/04/2025

Monday morning’s achievement requires its own post - I reached the top of Arthur’s seat!

Left the hotel at 5am to catch a sunrise over Edinburgh. Weather app said it was 5 degrees, and surprisingly, it was quite pleasant. Had a nice walk down the Royal Mile past Holyrood Palace, and started up the side of the mountain.

I read up on this before I left, and believed the reports that this would be a fairly easy walk……
Pffft, it was much steeper than reported, in my humble, flat town living, opinion.

I was overtaken by several groups of people before we even reached 1/2 way, but, I finally caught up at the flat spot about 3/4’s of the way, where everyone stopped to take in the view and lots of selfies.

Most of the regulars (and I say that because one of the groups that passed me mentioned that today was unusually busy on the track) stopped here for a while before heading back down.

I decided that I’d come too far not to try for the top. It was rocky and wet from the morning rain (rain, in Scotland??!?) and the entire climb had me doing what I’m now calling “travel insurance math”…. ‘If I slip and fall from here, how many bones might break?’ and ‘did I tick the box that said I’d be doing extreme sports??’.

Anyway - moral of the story, I powered on and reached the summit! After celebrating for a few minutes, I began the trek back down. I needed both hands and apparently my rear end to make it back down (limiting my butt slides to just one unplanned one 🤦🏼‍♀️). Well worth every minute as it rejuvenated me and made me feel like I could accomplish anything.

Day isn’t over yet, so the rest will have to go into a new post later.
❤️

21/04/2025

What a trip so far!! Travel was about 26 hours, and even though I actually slept on the plane(s), jet lag has hit me like a failed Wile-E-Coyote plan. 🥱😴

I played seat roulette for each of my 3 flights and didn’t fare too badly, but I think next time I take a 14 hour flight, I really should order a private jet 😉

Once I FINALLY reached my destination, I grabbed some essentials and explored the city for a while. Here for 2 nights before I jump on a bus to explore the high north of the country!

Visited an ancient fortress and when at the top I took a photo of the peak I intended to hike up first thing Monday….. Any ideas where I am yet?

At least one of the photos will give it away! Because no matter where in the world you go, you can always find another Aussie!! 🤪 In fact, the very first person to serve me at a store here was Australian.

Technically, I have nothing booked for today, but I do intend to try my luck on some ghost tours. Just waiting for a reasonable hour to go outside, cause it’s only 3:30am local time - thanks jet lag.

If you’re still with me, thank you ❤️

19/04/2025

Long time no see!

I’m back heading out for another misadventure - this one quite spur of the moment. You see, things have been stressful, to be polite, so far this year. I’ve had so much on my ever expanding plate that you probably wouldn’t believe that I’m a hard core social introvert that loathes leaving the house (except to travel of course).

But I’ve been powering through knowing that no matter what life throws at me, I have my much loved job to keep me grounded…
Until I didn’t.

Now, I do still have a job to come back to, but to say I’m sad to lose the position I had is an understatement. I was gutted. So I decided to take some time off before heading back to the other side of the office.

After moping about it for at least a week, my family got sick of me and told me to leave…. So in under 2 weeks I planned the “Misadventure Mystery Tour”, and I’m sitting at the Brisbane international terminal enjoying a nice grown up drinkie with apple pie bites - because why not, and I have adult money! It did however cost a little extra for some of the bookings, but really, i probably would have just spent those savings on other luxuries like groceries or the Power bill 🤷🏼‍♀️.

So, if you are still following along, I’m inviting you to guess my destination. There weren’t many people who knew I was leaving, and even less know where I’m going.

And, hopefully, I’ll return with a happier disposition, and better attitude for work.
Up Up and Away!!

Middle Aged Misadventures

30/04/2025

26/04/2025

24/04/2025

24/04/2025

23/04/2025

22/04/2025

22/04/2025

21/04/2025

21/04/2025

19/04/2025

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