A Georgian Journey - Part One

/
A Georgian Journey - Part One

In September 2024 we spent three weeks travelling around Georgia, a country we’d been wanting to visit for some time. What did we know about Georgia before going there? We knew that Georgia is a small country sitting to the south of the Caucasus Mountains; that it had a history of winemaking going back thousands of years; that it was one of the first nations to declare Christianity as the state religion; and that it had been invaded many times by its much larger neighbours. But the Georgian people and their culture and traditions had remained resilient. We wanted to know more. Here’s what we found.

Read More

Checking Out Some of Melbourne's Iconic Arcades and Lanes

/
Checking Out Some of Melbourne's Iconic Arcades and Lanes

In July 2024 I was in Melbourne for a State of Origin match at the MCG. The next day I decided to check out some of Melbourne’s renowned arcades and lanes. Well known for colourful graffiti and the innumerable cafes and eateries, they are amongst the city’s most popular tourist attractions.

Along with my friend Graeme, we downloaded a map produced by the City of Melbourne entitled Melbourne Walks: Arcades and Lanes. This provides an interesting 2.5 km route. Here’s what we found.

Read More

Lake Judd Walk

/
Lake Judd Walk

Lake Judd is an ancient glacier-formed lake in Tasmania’s Southwest National Park, with a spectacular back-drop of 600 metre high cliffs and views of Mt Anne, SW Tasmania’s highest peak. The 16 km day walk to the lake and back traverses button grass plains peppered with pink quartzite outcrops. As the track ascends the view behind is of Lake Pedder and surrounding peaks. The first 7 kms of the 8 kms to the lake is on part of the renowned, multi-day Mt Anne Circuit Walk.  We did the Lake Judd walk in January 2024. Here’s what we found.

Read More

Taiwan - A Tale of Three Cities

/
Taiwan - A Tale of Three Cities

If Taiwan is mentioned in the news, it’s usually with reference to the question: “when will China invade?” But meanwhile, as the world waits to find the answer to this, 22 million people are getting on with living their lives on a green, mountainous island.

So, what is Taiwan like? Is it a good place to visit? Is there much to see and do? We wanted to find out for ourselves. Unfortunately, we only had one week, so we decided to split our time between three cities: Taipei, the capital; Hualien on the east coast; and Kaoshiung in the south-west. Here’s how we spent our week.

Read More

10 Day Kyushu Circuit, Japan

/
10 Day Kyushu Circuit, Japan

Kyushu is the most southerly of Japan’s four main islands. It is renowned for its warm climate, volcanoes, onsen (hot springs), fascinating history and excellent food; all good reasons to visit. In late August/early September 2023 we did a 10-day circuit around Kyushu. We travelled with our sons, Alex and Zac, so it was a real family affair. Here is our journey – hopefully it will inspire a visit of your own. 

Read More

Return to Haw Par Villa - Singapore

/
Return to Haw Par Villa - Singapore

We first visited Haw Par Villa (HPV) in December 2014.  It is a well-known attraction amongst local Singaporeans but doesn’t get a lot of attention in tourist literature aimed at overseas visitors. It is, for want of a better term, a Chinese Culture and Mythology theme park. In 2014 we described it as Asia’s weirdest theme park. In early 2023 we were back in Singapore and decided to revisit HPV to see how it had fared over the intervening years.

Read More

A Little Bit of Lao

/
A Little Bit of Lao

In February 2023 we did a 10 day trip to the Lao Democratic Peoples Republic (Laos). As it was a relatively short visit, we chose to go to just three locations: Vientiane (the capital), Phonsavan (the home of the evocatively named Plain of Jars), and Luang Prabang (the previous royal capital and UNESCO listed World Heritage city).  Ten days is far too short to do this fascinating and diverse country justice, but if you only have time for a brief stay, here are three places worth including on your itinerary.

Read More

Queensland's Dinosaur Trail (+ Carnarvon Gorge)

/
Queensland's Dinosaur Trail (+ Carnarvon Gorge)

It used to be said that Australia lacked the sort of classic megafauna dinosaurs found in other parts of the world. But in recent decades that myth has been put to rest. And there is no better place to see many of Australia’s most impressive dinosaur fossils than outback Queensland’s Dinosaur Trail. We decided to check it out for ourselves on a recent visit to the region. After all who doesn’t love a dinosaur?

Read More

Adelaide to Alice - A Taste of the Outback

/
Adelaide to Alice - A Taste of the Outback

We recently did a 10-day trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs. It was an opportunity to visit the natural wonders of Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), and to experience a little bit of the Australian Outback. Its vastness means that you can spend months exploring it and barely scratch the surface. And indeed, we saw many people in extensively kitted out four-wheel drive vehicles who were doing this. But if you have limited time, don’t own a 4x4, and just want a taste of the outback, this post will hopefully give you some good ideas.

Read More

Mount Kate Walk - Cradle Mountain

/
Mount Kate Walk - Cradle Mountain

Mount Kate is a little visited peak in the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park. It is not signposted but is a relatively easy 6 km return walk from Ronny Creek. It provides great views of Cradle Mountain, with a different perspective to most of the walking tracks in the area. It is a very worthwhile day walk. Here’s how we went about it.

Read More

Arthur River to Sundown Point Walk

/
Arthur River to Sundown Point Walk

Starting from the evocatively named ‘Edge of the World’, at the mouth of the Arthur River on Tasmania’s wild west coast, this beach walk takes you along a stretch of broad, white sand to a rocky point of great significance to Tasmania’s indigenous peoples. It’s an easy half day (4 – 5 hour) walk that gives a good feel for this dramatic, windswept coastline facing the Roaring Forties and the Southern Ocean.

Read More

Cape Surville Walk (With a Little Help From an E-Bike)

/
Cape Surville Walk (With a Little Help From an E-Bike)

Cape Surville is a little visited, but spectacular location on the Forestier Peninsula, on Tasmania’s east coast. A return walk of just under 6 kms features some dramatic high sea cliffs. The access road in is rough in parts and requires a four-wheel drive vehicle. We didn’t have one, but solved this problem by cycling the most difficult section on e-mountain bikes (EMTBs). Here’s how we did it.

Read More

Maria Island Getaway

/
Maria Island Getaway

Maria Island, off Tasmania’s east coast, is a National Park popular for camping, bushwalking, cycling, snorkelling and wildlife viewing. Pronounced Mariah (as in Mariah Carey), it has a rich history dating back millennia starting with its interesting geology, through the long Aboriginal presence on the island, a significant convict period, attempts at industrialisation and commercial ventures, to today. We recently had three days and nights there. Here’s how we spent our time.

Read More

Return to Shippies - Shipstern Bluff Walk

/
Return to Shippies - Shipstern Bluff Walk

In November 2017 we published a post describing the day walk to the famous southern Tasmanian big wave surfing spot of Shipstern Bluff aka Shippies. Four years on we’ve returned to Shippies to check out the upgrades to the walk that we’d heard had been done. This post describes these changes. The walk itself still takes four hours return following the same track. But there have been some nice improvements to amenities and signage in the intervening years.

Read More

Tasmanian Bushland Garden

/
Tasmanian Bushland Garden

As the name indicates the Tasmanian Bushland Garden (TBG) is a garden dedicated to native Tasmanian plants, particularly from the southeast of the island. It was established in 2010. It is a 20 hectare reserve of natural bushland 4 kms south of Buckland, close to Tassie’s east coast. It has 1.5 hectares of display gardens linked by well-maintained tracks and featuring a sculpture trail. We saw an item on it in the popular TV program Gardening Australia so decided to check it out.

Read More

Black Glen Falls Walk

/
Black Glen Falls Walk

Black Glen Falls is a series of five small waterfalls on the Lachlan River in southeast Tasmania. It sits inside Wellington Park, the reserve that covers most of kunanyi/Mt Wellington. The walk to the falls and back is a 4 kilometre return trip. Despite being less than an hour’s drive from home in Hobart I’d never been there before, so with regular walking companion Graeme, we went to check it out.

Read More

Caribbean Islands – Our Favourite Shots (Northern Caribbean)

/
Caribbean Islands – Our Favourite Shots (Northern Caribbean)

In 2016 we island hopped through the Caribbean. We started in the south, in the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao and finished three months later in the north, in Jamaica and Cuba. In total we visited twenty one states and territories.

At this time, when COVID -19 still makes international travel virtually impossible, we’ve decided to revisit this trip via producing some posts with our favourite shots. We’ve divided this project into three parts: Southern Caribbean; Central Caribbean and Northern Caribbean. Here we present the Northern Caribbean. We hope you find it interesting.

Read More

The Growling Swallet

/
The Growling Swallet

A “swallet’ is defined as an “underground stream”, also “an opening through which a stream disappears underground”. Tucked away in a corner of Mt Field National Park in Southern Tasmania is Growling Swallet. It is a place where the Junee River disappears underground through a large cave. It is said that when the river is running hard it positively growls. I’d never heard of this place until recently when a friend mentioned it. We decided to check it out. Here’s what we found.

Read More

Four Dog-Friendly Walks in North East Tasmania

/
Four Dog-Friendly Walks in North East Tasmania

Being the proud owners of Frida, the heeler-border collie cross rescue dog, means that walks in national parks are off the menu when we want to take Frida with us. North East Tasmania doesn’t have a lot of territory classified as national parks, but it does have plenty of good, short walks within reserves and state forests where dogs are permitted. We decided to check out a few of these. Here are four good dog-friendly short walks in the region.

Read More