I was glancing through our eBook the other day and landed on a page where I shared the travel bucket list I created for our Australian road trip adventure.
At the time of writing the travel ebook, our trip was in the planning stage. We hadn’t left and had no real understanding of how we were going to make the Australian road trip adventure happen.
I just knew what the burning desires were within me – those adventures I just had to have.
I remember preparing my list and leaving things off it because I didn’t think I could make it happen. That’s not the purpose of a bucket list. It’s not for us to create based upon our own judgements of what we think we can or can’t do.
It’s the place to unravel the desires of our heart and list them down. It’s the releasing of a dream so the magic can start working to create them for us.
You don’t have to attach yourself to them or push or pull to make them happen. That often leads to disappointment when they don’t work and the control we try to put over them gets in the way of flexibility and flow – the space that allows magic creation to happen.
That’s why it’s important to create your travel bucket list.
You are the starting point for how your future will look. You set the wheels in motion. You decide what it is you want to see and do and you let that be the framework or the guide for the path you take.
Then you put one foot in front of the other, starting at the point A that makes most sense, and allow the journey to take you.
I’m so glad, I decided to ignore the voices telling me that some of my bucket list dreams couldn’t be done and wrote them down anyway.
I moved down that list amazed how we had checked off almost every single one, including the ones I didn’t think I could make happen. I reflected upon how we made them happen and was blown away by the magic – the unplanned events and chance happenings that twisted and turned us to those experiences.
Here is the list I started with:
- Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef √
- Walk around Uluru, Northern Territory√
- Visit Arnhem, Northern Territory ( I briefly visited before this trip. You can see that here)
- Swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, WA (Didn’t make the whale sharks but swam with manta rays)
- The Melbourne Cup (horse race) √
- Slow travel in Tasmania for a month √
- Get lost in Wineglass Bay, Tasmania √
- Bay of Fires, Tasmania √
- King Island, Tasmania
- Cradle Mountain hikes, Tasmania √
- Australian Tennis Open, Melbourne √
- Jervis Bay, NSW √
- Hyams Beach, NSW √
- Snowy Mountains, NSW √
- Kangaroo Island, South Australia
- Barossa Valley, South Australia√
- Drive the Nullarbor Plain
- The Great Ocean Road, Victoria √
- Live in the Daintree Forest, Queensland √
- Bright, Victoria √
- The Pinnacles, Western Australia√
- Spend a week on Rottnest Island, Western
Australia √ - Flinders Ranges, South Australia
- Camel ride on Cable Beach, Broome √
- The Bungle Bungles √
- Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory √
What’s so great about this list now is I have a handy record of what we did and didn’t do so I know what to come back to. And I can clearly see what I still have to do and focus on making those dreams happen.
Here are a few more we’ve added to our list thanks to travelers tips along the way:
- Margaret River, WA (not sure why this was not on the original)
- Esperance, WA
- Denmark, WA
- Coober Pedy, SA
- MacDonnell Ranges, NT
And of course, there were many things I did not know about at the time, that have jumped on that list. Unexpected surprises and experiences.
That’s why it’s important once you create the bucket list to let go of the rigid control and deadlines for it. Make space for the things you know nothing about. They came roaring in like the wind and will knock your socks off.
Here are a few of the things that knocked our socks off:
- Karijini National Park, Western Australia
- Boodjamulla National Park, Queensland
- The Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters
- Mudgee wineries, NSW
- Lake Argyle, Western Australia
So you can see your bucket list is a robust, flexible way to plan for your travel dreams to arrive and allow a bit of magic to help make it happen.
Tell us one place that’s on your travel bucket list?
