About Us
The name of Tora Adventure comes from the mix of our first names, Toby and Rodora and our love of Adventure.
Toby is originally from Adelaide, Australia and spent the last few years living in London, UK, Vancouver, Canada and Toronto, Canada working as an Accountant.
Rodora is originally from Sydney, Australia and also spent the last few years in London, Vancouver and Toronto working as an accountant.
We met each other while both living in London and on a trip to Running with the Bulls Festival in Pamplona, Spain in 2008. We actually got engaged during this trip on top of a volcano in Nicaragua on Valentines day (see this blog post).
This “big trip” that we started the blog for began on August 30, 2013 and will take us from what we called home in Toronto for 3 years through the United States for 3 weeks, then onto Mexico and south into the rest of Central America. The plan is to continue south until we get to Chile. We still haven’t really decided on when we’ll end the trip officially, but we’re currently aiming for about 15 months and December 2014.
We’ve never done anything like this before in terms of a blog or travelling for so long; so any constructive comments are openly accepted.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain
Whitewater rafting in Ottawa, Canada
Tora Adventure 
Hi – I came across your blog when researching Roatan. Thanks for all the excellent travel advice. Where did you stay while in Roatan and if we’re not diving, only snorkeling, do you think there’s enough to do and see on the island for 2 weeks? Did you actually stay on Corn Island (I’ve been to Nicaragua before but not Corn Island) – if so, where? Thanks in advance – Cindy
All the details for Roatan are on our blog post. We stayed at a place called Chillies in the area known as West End. This is where the cheaper and more local accommodation is located. Not to be confused with West Bay where the best snorkelling is and the bigger resort accommodation. We’d really recommend to try diving. It’s fairly cheap and quite easy after the first few times. If you were only snorkelling, then maybe a week would be enough time there depending on how many other activities you wanted to do. There are plenty of other activities to do there such as swim with dolphins, laying on pristine beaches, quad biking, touring/exploring the island, ziplining, spa/massage, drinking and eating (though that can get expensive at almost US prices). It all depends on your personal tastes.
We stayed both on big and little corn islands. We much preferred the smaller and local feel of little corn island. In our blog post we have all the details. We stayed at three brothers hostel and really enjoyed it. https://toraadventure.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/little-corn-island-a-tropical-paradise-day-152/
My name is Chic Osgood and i am trying to re-establish contact with Rodney Yates who was a teacher at Holbrook central in 1976 and later the principal of Stewary House. If you are his daughter can you contact him and give him my email address below.
Hi Charles, You didn’t leave an email address. Yes, you have the right person. Rodney is also on Facebook if you have access to that.
Chic,
I’ve only just discovered your message on my daughter’s blog. I’m currently in the Maldives as an Australian volunteer returning to Oz June 213. You can contact me on “deleted for privacy” or via facebook. A lot to catch up.
What type of camera did you use for all the pictures?
Canon PowerShot SX260 HS
Hi guys,
I found this blog via Whirlpool forum. Thanks for posting the link there. So I’m single female and I want to trek through Patagonia, I’m using your itinery as a guide. I live in Sydney. Is it safe for me to do day treks by myself from El Chalten? I see you camped overnight, I’d love to do that but it’s probably not a good idea for a single female. Do you know a tour group that camps there or is it just independent day trips?
We live in Sydney now if you ever wanted to catch up for coffee/drink and chat about anything. Safe is always a very subjective term in these countries. I always tell people to apply the same rules they would in any big city. Know what the current situation in the local area is. Are there any known problems? Any areas to stay away from? Hostels/Accommodation almost always err on the side of caution and give information to keep their guests safe. Also it’s often a chance to upsell a tour to the guest, so pick your source of information. The best thing you can have is the ability to communicate in Spanish, even just a little can help a lot.
In the area of El Chalten I would suggest trying to do it with other people from the hostel, if that’s where you’re staying. There’s often multiple people going up each day depending on the time of the season. Even then, I’d still say a day trip is quite safe. The only reason people are up there is to hike or climb. Access is by walking, so a thief or danger would perhaps only exist near the entrance/exit.
I’d imagine their are tours that run up there, but I don’t see much value in it. It’s very easy to do by yourself.
Thanks heaps, yeah I could go trekking with others at the hostel. Any other question, how much was your discounted trip to Antartica? I’d like to do that too but at a cheaper price.
The prices are always changing depending on supply/demand/season etc. Last minute prices early last season were around $4000-$5000, which is about half the listed price if you were to book in advance.
Great lives you’re living! Thanks for your site… and my sincere congratulations! What both of you do is very meaningful! 🙂