Elisha Donkin - Beyond Wild Places

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Elisha Donkin - Beyond Wild Places

Hiking, van life, adventure travel, full-time blogger / writer

17/09/2026

I wrote this two weeks ago when I first arrived in Kathmandu. I was the only foreigner on my flight from Kuala Lumpur and I was the only tourist going through immigration. There was a bunch of Aussie disaster relief and response workers who'd just arrived too. To be honest, it felt a little strange.

Thamel was very quiet. I hardly saw tourists. I was the only foreigner on my flight to Pokhara (which I had to take because the roads are closed).

I felt helpless knowing a huge disaster had happened here just days before. But also things seemed to go on as normal in the cities. People were just trying to make a living, hoping the tourists would still come.

I had my guesthouse owners in both Kathmandu and Pokhara thank me for coming and urging me to tell people that everything is okay here.

I'm glad I decided to still come. I've often been the only tourist at a cafe. These people have to make money to support themselves somehow.

But still there is some guilt that I'm here as a tourist while climate change is having such a severe and direct impact on communities.

I'm often having these debates in my own head. So, I thought I'd share these thoughts and my experience. Being a part of the tourism industry can be very ethically complicated sometimes.

But for now, I've seen how much locals have appreciated my visit, so I'm going to take that as a sign that it was the right thing to still come to Nepal 🇳🇵

If you had or have a trip or trek booked for this upcoming season, don't cancel it. So many people are relying on your visit 🙏

BTW, these photos are all from my last visit here in 2019.

14/09/2026

You gotta have some fun when you're learning to surf 😅

It's a very humbling experience learning as an adult. On every wave you're learning something new, making mistakes, improving, trying to get better. And while it can be incredibly frustrating at times, I genuinely had some great instructors in Lombok and Sumbawa who without doubt made me laugh every session (and also gave me valuable feedback and important advice). Because at the end of the day, you gotta have fun.

In most of these photos I'm making mistakes, but it's kinda the beauty of it. Being bad at something and not being afraid to keep trying is good for us. So, here's some good and bad photos of me surfing, because you've got to laugh during the process 🤙

06/09/2026

Support local businesses 🫶

Majority of the cafes, restaurants and bars on the main roads in Kuta, Lombok are foreign owned businesses. I'm not suggesting that you completely boycott them, because sometimes it's nice to have a pizza. Plus, they still create jobs and employ locals.

But, it's really important to support locally owned places too. They're the ones serving up the best local food and you'll be directly supporting a family with your money.

Lots of locally owned places are competing for tourists against the fancy pizza joints and matcha cafes. And they're just trying to do their best to make a livelihood.

So, if you're planning to visit Kuta, Lombok, please seek out some of these places. There are plenty more too, you just have to find them. But these were the spots I kept returning to again and again after spending two months on the island.

I mean, did you really come to Indonesia to eat pizza anyway?!

30/08/2026

Quick trip to Singapore 🇸🇬

I'm not a city person. Never really ever thought to explore Singapore before. But when you need a new laptop and it's the closest place with a direct flight from Lombok, that's where I ended up.

Two nights in Chinatown, and I really enjoyed walking the streets here. It's the only part of the city I had time to explore properly and it didn't disappoint. So many interesting shops and incredible restaurants and unique market stalls. A blend of old and new architecture, with temples from different religions in-between.

Out of any part of the city, I'm glad I picked Chinatown to stay in. So much character around every corner that I'm not sure you'd find in some other parts of the city. Thanks Singapore for your Apple Store and all your delicious food!

16/08/2026

You can never have too many hobbies 😎

Outside is where the good stuff happens. Try new activities. Go on side quests. It's never a waste of time. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

08/08/2026

The trip that started it all. 12 years ago in my winter uni break I went to China for a month on a solo trip. It was so damn hard. I cried many times. But it taught me that amongst all the hard parts, travelling is really the greatest thing you can ever do.

Less than six months later, I quit my jobs (yes I had multiple) and took a year off from uni and travelled the world for 14 months from Africa to Europe to South America.

Sometimes you have to just take the leap and do the hard thing, because it teaches you more than you thought.

If you've ever wanted to go on a solo backpacking trip, do it. Yes, it will be hard, but trust me when I say it'll be worth it.

Ps. Enjoy these photos from before the aesthetic instagram travel world came to be 😅

05/08/2026

Look back at how far you've come 🥹

It hasn't been 4 straight months of surfing (I wish). I learnt to surf in Sri Lanka and then didn’t touch a surf board for 2 years. Then, I went back to Sri Lanka last year and then proceeded to have another 6 months of no surfing. Now I'm here in Indonesia, back on a surfboard.

It takes so much time, commitment, and perseverance. It's one of the hardest things to learn as an adult, and honestly I'm very aware with all the gaps I take without surfing, I'll probably never become that good. But it's so damn addictive and something that consumes you if you let it.

So, I'm gonna keep going, learning, progressing, and see how far I can go. When I look back at this, it's amazing what you can achieve in 4 months of surfing... so let's see what another few months can do.

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Yarrangobilly Caves Entrance Road

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https://beyondwildplaces.com/

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