Hi friends, We made it to Nelson through some quite heavy rain, the clouds lifting and a weak sun shining through as we arrived. We were warmly welcomed by friends with whom we stayed for aa couple of days and enjoyed an extended family bbq, walking in the hills above the city, lunch at a [...]
Dear friends, On a quick visit to my hometown Dunedin, we enjoyed browsing in the Saturday market held in and around the Octagon, bang smack in the centre of the city - bands on various stages belted out old favourites, jazz or solos, there were food stalls in abundance and a few quirky exhibits too. [...]
Dear friends, I hope you will bear with me for this posting as it is rather a nostalgic one for me. It is about my day in Hampden where I spent many of my holidays up until the age of twelve at my paternal Granny's house, and the next village, Moeraki, which we often visited [...]
Dear everyone, After our time in Christchurch and Akaroa, we travelled south from Christchurch, turning inland after an hour of so and headed west towards the MacKenzie country and the South Alps beyond that. Not so much traffic on the NZ roads ... The rolling green hills around Geraldine and Fairlie slowly gave way to tussock-clad [...]
Dear friends, One of the distinct pleasures of living in Asia is having the opportunity to celebrate the many colourful festivals which are an important part of life here. Perhaps none is as important across the whole region as the Chinese New Year. This year on 28 January we entered the Year of the Rooster [...]
Dear friends, It could be said that New Year Resolutions are merely 'To Do' lists for the first week of January. If so, now that we are in the second week of January 2017, I can feel free to share some thoughts with you about life in general and to bring some positive energy into [...]
Greetings everyone, I've been looking back over this year's travel and remembering not only the beautiful places I visited, the many interesting and passionate people I met and learned from, and the variety of entertainment and delicious food and wine we enjoyed, but also thinking about the small details and discoveries, the splendid light and [...]
Greetings everyone, In this third blog from my Sabah trip, I am sharing a few details gleaned from walks in the forest - with a focus on the forest floor and shrub layers. The tropical rainforest has five layers - the emergent layer where trees can grow to heights of 50-60 metres, the main canopy [...]
Greetings everyone. It is always a pleasure when visiting Tuscany, Italy to spend a day or two tasting some of the delicious wines grown and produced in the region. This year is was a real treat to spend half a day at the Antinori Winery, just north of Florence, that not only produces fabulous wines [...]
Greetings everyone The journey through Portugal continued from Porto and the Douro Valley in the north, to the central region, beginning in the capital, Lisbon. The city of Lisbon straddles the delta of the Tejo River which is continuously criss-crossed by boats of all sizes. From here you can get a sense that while Portugal [...]