<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Half Time]]></title><description><![CDATA[Half Time]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 22:17:28 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.caminoqueen.org/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Halftime in Life: Embracing Reflection and Purpose for My Next Half]]></title><description><![CDATA[Life often feels like a game with quarters, moments where we pause, catch our breath, and prepare for what comes next. In sports like AFL and NRL, halftime is more than just a break. It’s a chance to review, adjust, and refocus before the most critical part of the game begins. I find myself at a similar halftime in life—not in crisis, but in a space where reflection and visualisation can shape the next chapter. This post explores how embracing this halftime mindset can help you live with...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/halftime-in-life-embracing-reflection-and-purpose-for-my-next-half</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69dc674143e56f31776f5a24</guid><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 04:14:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_362a3b08f97247099f70fe4e8d237d7a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Letting go, becoming me and how do I stop walking?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sitting at a crowded Cafe, lots of noise and the bustle of fresh new pilgrams who have started their journey in Sarria. Such a different vibe to the last 15 days of solitude, reflection and physically pushing myself beyond limits I have ever thought possible. The great news is Neale has now joined me and we get to complete the last 130 ish kms together. But first let me cover the huge highlights since receiving my halfway pilgrimage certificate. Rabanal del Camino to O Cebreiro The toughest...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/letting-go-becoming-me-and-how-do-i-stop-walking</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a1329e0996c7eef5078350f</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 15:23:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_48069b684e9c49d8b6380ecdcc2c960d~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[220kms of rain and wind and then there was sun!]]></title><description><![CDATA[For the last 7 days there has been lots of rain, wind, blisters, infected feet and fingers yes fingers!!!! Andd head cold . I can{t seem to get impulse protein into to me each day to make up for the calories I am expending as I walk. Yet I wouldn’t change a thing. This is all part of this experience.. La Meseta has been an an incredible experience for me to focus on thinking between towns without getting distracted by the landscape. When I am in a town I can be fully present to walk the...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/220kms-of-rain-and-wind-and-then-there-was-sun</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a04d3974c277d8732aeaa53</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 20:27:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_2cadf66a4edb4271b7621b50ae407933~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Mother’sDay on the Way]]></title><description><![CDATA[Tomorrow in Australia it will be Mother’s day. It always been a bitter sweet day for me having lost my mother as baby, a son in my early 20s and raising two beautiful children  who are the oxygen in my cells. It’s really just another day for me - I find it difficult to receive the love and care  my kids give me on Mother’s day and also am not really into days of celebration of being parent for me that is each day. This year I find myself reflecting on the importance of receiving love ,...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/mother-sday-on-the-way</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ff9052b1ac8cd94fa47c40</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2026 20:52:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_708e20af62b440769155ec4f0f665c07~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Castle State and The Way]]></title><description><![CDATA[A mentor and friend asked me how do I walk on when there is so much to see and savour on this walk. Maybe its the promise of something else as equally as beautiful, maybe its the momentum you gain when you find your walking  or maybe , sometimes its just to much to take in. I have been walking through Castle country which has been surreal to see the Muslim and Christian influences on the architecture and some enormous castles. Yesterday and today I have been on what is considered by consensus...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/the-castle-state-and-the-way</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69fe2f5b57c1b4d987678738</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 19:32:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_f2aa009964814dd89ba9936675cc60ce~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VillaFranca De Monte de Oca to Burgos - Music, meaning and loads of rain!]]></title><description><![CDATA[It was a wet, and truely tough couple of days on the walk into Burgos. It’s amazing how much harder and heavy it feels walking in the rain. Everything takes longer. Finding a dry enough spot out of the belting rain, to change your socks. Where the placement of every item has consumed your mind for the last 2 kilometres on how can you minimise them getting wet, letting rain into your wet weather gear and then getting tucked back in again a little wetter a little colder to go another 5kms. So...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/villafranca-de-monte-de-oca-to-burgos-music-meaning-and-loads-of-rain</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69fb99377c961ad0b900fb9d</guid><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 20:56:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_e72b75d26bfc4170a7d9179c9ffa22b7~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN……]]></title><description><![CDATA[After 4 days resting my feet and taking the bus from town,  yesterday I was back on the road again !!! Thanks to the great  Willie Nelson that lamented with me We ‘ can’t wait to get back on the road again…La la la la’. Each day I rested, my feet were grateful but my body was itching for the physical act of walking. In total, I missed 76 kms of walking but it was worth it to let my body heal and for the new friends I met of the various buses I took! The most significant would be the professor...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/back-on-the-road-again</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f64316ddf80d7e38c8aa7d</guid><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 19:55:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_3923eaa46e6f4ae0a76fe5684eba246d~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Frustrations, Friendships, Funerals and ‘The Way’]]></title><description><![CDATA[Pamplona-Puerte La Reina-Estrella-Los Arcos-Viana and everything in between. Long blog warning – there may be some digression and rambling. I have struggle to write for the last 4 days – thinking I didn’t have anything of interest to say. I am not sure I do now, but what I have now is time and you my readers, get the delight of my 4 days of thinking. Brace yourselves it may be a wild ride for some of you. There are no small days on the Camino. Days become a culmination of small but...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/frustrations-friendships-funerals-and-the-way</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f0952e89aa25024edf714f</guid><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:10:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_fda2849712ad41deb20b1ceaae6cd0cc~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Paris - A cultural brain explosion]]></title><description><![CDATA[The week before I commenced on the Camino walk. My travel buddy Smithy was generous to share his knowledge and time on Paris having visited Paris a few time before. His enthusiasm  was infectious as he swept me on the Parisian cultural journey with a two day museum pass -from the Louvre to the Palace of Versailles to Shakespeare’s Writing place and the House of Rodin my clear favourite. The Luxembourg Gardens blew me away and you can’t help but love the well dressed men and women! No active...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/paris-a-cultural-brain-explosion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69eb903f8d49bd7442f1c442</guid><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:52:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_9c13ed8e0a994030b61ea2359c7c924b~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Taking the time between Quarters]]></title><description><![CDATA[I haven’t blogged for a two nights. For all of you who thought I might have fallen off a cliff with my absent minded walking - I am fine. I have made it to Pampalona approximately 70 kms into my walk -I think. I trying not to focus on where I have come from or where I am going to but just being present. I took the time to rest, to digest and gather my thoughts. There are no small days on the Camino. But there are many small yet significant moments. Each interaction you have along ‘the Way’ is...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/taking-the-time-between-quarters</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69eb184593ddc6c6134a517d</guid><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:19:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_62c4e5b393fd4feb98065018162b7151~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The final siren on the first day]]></title><description><![CDATA[Where to start! Maybe with I made it! I walked 28 kms, over 9 hours and 45,000 plus steps. What a huge day both physically and emotionally. So many big emotions. So many big hills. The People I met so many amazing people today. Two Croatian ladies in the morning who we were fortunate enough to get a photo with before they left us for dead. They were in their mid 70s and set a cracking pace. They offered kindness laughter and medicine (this we didn’t need). My walking buddy for 500 metres from...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/the-final-siren-on-the-first-day</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e7cb060294e8c3f3eebeeb</guid><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:36:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_ce14f0c6525a46aa92382f4aab34c88c~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Whistle is about to Blow]]></title><description><![CDATA[A shell from my beach at home, a shell from Saint Jean Pied de Port, two passports that signify different challenges and of course my Meixcan eye given to me by mis primas , so  mi hermanita, primas and familia Mexican is always with me, watching over me and can share this next chapter of my life. Setting Out on the Camino: The Beginning of My Pilgrimage Reflections, Anticipations, and the Adventure Ahead There are moments in life when the pull of personal challenge calls again. My first...]]></description><link>https://www.caminoqueen.org/post/the-whistle-is-about-to-blow</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e65933247930afa8045828</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:54:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/42f38c_e10b3cde4d764d0b9b99490de0a6928d~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brooke Murphy</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>