A giraffe stands in a dry, sparse landscape with bushes and trees, under a soft pink sky.

Sixty before 60 – the New & Improved Bucket List

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Welcome to my Sixty before 60 bucket list!

In 2020, just as Covid hit, I made myself a bucket list of things to do before I turned fifty. I had no idea at the time that I wouldn’t be able to leave the country for almost two years – and occasionally wouldn’t even be allowed to leave my house.

Needless to say, I didn’t get to do everything on the list. It was ambitious anyway, trying to achieve all 50 things in less than three years.

This time I have a whole ten years to work through my 60 before 60 list. I’ve carried over the things I didn’t get to last time and added a whole pile of new travel experiences to bring the total to sixty.

Surely this time I’ll get through them all!

If you’re wondering what this bucket list is all about, the short version is that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, and again in 2024.

I went through treatment and came out the other side with a renewed sense of making the most of life and living it with purpose.

It will be no surprise to hear that travel is my passion. It’s what lights me up and brings me joy, so that’s what my bucket list is all about.

I’ve always had a (long!) list in my head of all the things I want to do next – now I have it in writing too.

There will always be more to see and do, but having this list gives me some things to prioritise rather than simply waiting to see what comes along.

The first entries below are carried over from my previous list.

And I’ve purposely left a spot blank so I can add something new if the right idea comes along. Ten years is a long time (yet somehow not very long at all!).

Do you have something you think deserves a place on my travel bucket list? Let me know – you might just help me fill that final spot.

Current tally: 22/60
Deadline: 2033

Note: some links below (as I tick things off) go through to my other website, Exploring South Australia.

  1. Trek in the Himalayas
  2. Walk the Milford Track
  3. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
    a female snorkelling underwater
  4. Eat an insect
  5. Walk on the Great Wall of China
  6. See the Aurora Australis
    Pink and purple streaks of the Aurora Australis in the night sky
  7. Watch the sunrise at Mt Fuji
  8. Fly first class (again)
  9. Do a wine-blending class at the d’Arenberg Cube
    Carefully Measuring
  10. Cycle the Riesling Trail
    Female in cycling helmet standing under a metal archway with "The Riesling Trail" sign. There is a red bike in the background
  11. Swim with sea lions at Baird Bay
    A seal swims gracefully underwater near the sandy ocean floor, surrounded by clear turquoise water.
  12. Start walking the Heysen Trail (done)
    Josie taking a selfie on a coastal footpath with greenery and rocks. A sign nearby reads “Wild South Coast Way on the Heysen Trail.” Blue sky and sea visible in the background.
  13. Go to WOMADelaide
  14. Visit Darwin (and Kakadu National Park) ((Darwin done July 2025 – Kakadu still to go))
  15. Go on a paddle steamer on the Murray River
    A white, double-story paddle steamer at the wharf with a sign on it saying Rothbury Built in 1881
  16. Swim in an outback waterhole
  17. Visit my last three South East Asian countries – Brunei, Timor-Leste, Philippines
  18. Ride in a Helicopter
    a blonde female standing in front of a red helicopter
  19. See a platypus in the wild
    A woman in outdoor clothing points to a rocky, forested area across a calm body of water.
  20. Cruise the Nile (done, blog post coming soon)
    A large boat called Andrea at dock at night time
  21. Visit Yellowstone National Park – the world’s first national park
  22. See the Pyramids (done, blog post coming soon)
    Josie posing as thought she is holding the tip of the largest Pyramid of Giza
  23. Visit the Museum of the Future in Dubai (done, blog post coming soon)
    Josie with her back to the camera, looking at the curve of the ornate Museum of the Future. The building is silver and covered in Arabic Script.
  24. Attend the Oberammergau Passion Play (2030)
  25. Visit my seventh continent (done when I visited Egypt – blog post coming soon)
    A hand holding a curvy glass filled with a bright orange juice. The blurry background shows a matching orange sunset and the Pyramids of Giza
  26. Do an African safari
  27. Trek to Machu Picchu
  28. Visit Saudi Arabia
  29. Visit the remaining Great Wine Capitals of the World – Bilbao-Rioja (done), Hawke’s Bay, Lausanne, San Francisco-Napa Valley and Verona (although they do keep changing the list!)
    Bilbao
    Josie taking a selfie in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The building is silver and curvy.
  30. Set foot on Antarctica
  31. Stay in an underwater hotel (like Reefsuite on the GBR)
  32. Cruise to the Galápagos Islands
  33. See an erupting volcano (done – Mt Etna, post coming soon)
    Woman in outdoor gear taking a selfie in front of a rugged, grassy volcanic mountainside under a cloudy sky.
  34. Go back to Agra and this time actually visit the Taj Mahal
  35. See the Grand Canyon
  36. Explore the Giant’s Causeway in the UK (done, blog post coming soon)
    josie standing on top of some of the Giant's Causeway pillars. In the background is a green cliff
  37. Walk the Camino de Santiago
  38. Visit the Coral Coast in WA
  39. See the landscape of the Atacama Desert
  40. And the Bolivia Salt Flats
  41. Do a Sydney Harbour cruise
  42. Drive across the Nullarbor
    A road sign found when crossing the Nullarbor that says "90 Mile Straight Australia's Longest Straight Road 146.6km"
  43. See the Sydney NYE fireworks
  44. Drive the Victorian silo art trail
  45. Hike to the top of Mount Kosciuszko
    Josie standing with her hand on a tall stone cairn that marks the top of Mount Kosciuszko. Josie is wearing a black cap, sunglasses, a black unzipped jacket and a grey t-shirt. In the background are views over the mountains and valleys beyond.
  46. Get to Lord Howe Island
  47. Actually speak in a foreign language (probably German) (done)
    I’m calling this one done after a conversation with a Russian-speaking Uzbek woman on a train between Bukhara and Khiva. She had been to the German University and the only way we could communicate was with me using my very bad German 😂
  48. Go skiing
  49. Stay in an agriturismo
  50. Drink a Singapore Sling at Raffles
    A person wearing a black shirt holds a cocktail garnished with pineapple and a cherry inside a busy, warmly lit restaurant.
  51. Visit the remaining European countries on my list – Andorra, Belarus, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine.
  52. Go to the Sydney Mardi Gras
  53. Visit the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach
  54. Travel on the Ghan
  55. See the Stairway to the Moon at Broome
  56. Spend a few days in Robe
    A woman standing by the "o" of the town sign for Robe, South Australia
  57. See the white beaches of the Whitsundays
  58. See the Sagrada Familia before it’s finished
    A selfie of Josie in front of an ornate Gothic cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. There are also large cranes as work on the cathedral continues
  59. See an equinox at one of the special viewing sites
  60. (blank)

What Will Be Number 60?

And that’s where my Sixty before 60 list stands for now.

I’ve deliberately left number 60 blank. I have until 2033, and who knows what new place, experience or crazy idea might come along between now and then?

I’ll keep updating this list as I tick things off – and probably adding links and photos along the way.

In the meantime, if there’s something you think absolutely deserves that final spot, let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for ideas!

Learn more about my travels here
My Adult Gap Year in Review
Our Ten Biggest Gap Year Failures
151 Inspirational Ideas for your Best Travel Bucket List

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Josie Kelsh

Josie will help you to plan your next trip filled with bucket list experiences balanced with budget travel. She discovered travel in her late thirties, but since then has travelled extensively, visiting more than 60 countries and taking an adult gap year. She is now based in Australia and loves sharing all she has learned about travelling on a budget but with the added comforts a Gen Xer requires.