Travel Oasis: Sharing Adventure Travel in the COVID Era

Dotti and Zandy Mazga

We’ve always believed that the opportunity to travel is one of the greatest gifts that life can provide. Seeing the world in new (and often uncomfortable) ways forces you to broaden your perspective and gain an appreciation for what really matters in life. This immense privilege has changed our lives in myriad ways and made us stronger, more resilient and overall better people.

Brinkley Bluff, Larapinta Trail, NTBrad Weir

58 | BWA April 2022

And when you think about it, travel and bushwalking are very similar experiences.

Like bushwalking, travelling pushes you to new limits, forces you to rely on yourself, challenges you in unpredictable ways, provides new insights and opens the world in ways you could have never imagined.

It’s not surprising that you often find people who love both. Travellers are often bushwalkers and bushwalkers are often travellers.

We are both.

We love exploring the world by all means, but especially on foot. We love connecting with other people and taking in the awe of nature’s wonders. We love experiencing new cultures and opening ourselves up to new experiences. We even love walking for hours on end with our heavy backpacks on. And we really love posting up for the night in our little two-person tent.

Travel OasisWe’re Dotti and Zandy. We run Travel Oasis, a new blog focusing on post-COVID and adventure travel. We share our love of the outdoors with the world and give practical guides and resources so that others can camp, hike and explore this incredible world of ours, in this crazy COVID time.

In 2021 we began planning and preparing for a big, global adventure. Our plan is to travel with no fixed itinerary, nor with a specific end date. We have some ideas and countries that we’re keen on, but in the end, we’re going to let the journey guide itself. We’ve always been pretty flexible travellers and if COVID has taught us anything, it’s that flexibility is key!

Central to our planning was the development of Travel Oasis. We wanted a purpose behind our trip and a project to focus on and channel our energies into. We also wanted to document our travels and share them with the world. We’ve always loved passing on

Dotti and Zandy at Walls of Jerusalem, TasmaniaZandy Marcus

BWA April 2022 | 59

tips and tricks to friends and fellow travellers we meet so it felt like a natural fit. And finally, we thought it would be fun!

Through Travel Oasis, we highlight the places we experience and the people we meet along the way, whilst sharing useful and relevant information that inspires others to embark on adventures of their own. And most importantly, we explore what it means to travel in this new COVID world we’re living in. Because we know that we have questions as to what COVID travel looks like and we imagine you do too.

Where are we going?If it has not come across already, we’re both incredibly passionate about life!

We’re driven by curiosity and a deep-seated desire to explore and experience new things. We also love a good challenge. It provides us with a goal to work towards and offers a great opportunity to grow as individuals. For us, this clearly explains our love of both adventure travel and bushwalking.

Looking forward, we can’t say too much about what the future holds for us. We’re currently living life one day at a time and we love it. That said, we plan to be travelling for at least a year.

We left Australia in December, starting our trip in Thailand and then Sri Lanka. From here, we’re looking to get into more off-the-beaten-track destinations soon. We’re focusing on hiking and camping and are planning to get to some regions that offer fantastic hiking opportunities.

We don’t want to give away too much right now, but let’s just say we’re fondly gazing towards the high mountains of Central Asia.