Da Nang, Vietnam
I find Ho Chi Minh overwhelming with it’s chaos, traffic and pollution. I met somebody who described Saigon as not having a soul as it was hard to connect with the city. I’m not sure I’d go that far...
View ArticleRandom thoughts from Hoi An & Da Nang
International Women’s Day is big in Asia – my tailor was closed, probably giving her the one day off a year she gets. I wonder if tailors in Hoi An close during Tet? I hate plastic takeaway cups when...
View ArticleJimmy’s On The Mall – Restaurant Review
Wandering along the pedestrian strip of Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, Barry and I were in search of food in the mid afternoon. There’s only a three or four hour time difference between Singapore and...
View ArticleMonday Highlight – Mongoose Crossway 200
I’ve been borrowing a bike since my arrival in Melbourne which has been great for my pocket and not a bad for pootling around some of the trails in Hawthorn and Kew. But since starting a temp job in...
View ArticleA Whale, a Whale – Whale Watching in Warnambool
At first, winter doesn’t seem like the best choice for a cycling holiday along the Great Ocean Road. But the blue skies and sunny days in July had us dreaming of cycling from Geelong to Warnambool in...
View ArticleThe Shipwrecked Coast
There’s a reason why they call it Great. The coastline of Victoria is stunning. It’s sandy and beautiful. There are dramatic cliffs. Fantastic rock formations. The further south you go it’s also...
View ArticleWarnambool & The Great Ocean Road
Warnambool is a great place to watch whales, see shipwrecks and have your hair blown off as you walk the pier. Visiting in the middle of winter with only brief spells from the rain didn’t stop...
View ArticleSleeping Under the Stars With Koalas
Our Australian experience is complete – we slept in the bush with koalas in the trees above us. Bimbi Park is the best place to stay in Cape Otway. It’s rustic and close to nature, with hundreds of...
View ArticleCycling in Cape Otway National Park
Our encounters with koalas continued. The good folk at Bimbi Park recommended their favourite mountain biking trail in the Otways and sent us off to find a long fire trail at the top of the Cape Otway...
View ArticleThe Overland Train – Melbourne to Adelaide
I love a good train journey. Barry does too but I was still surprised that it didn’t take me long to convince him that taking The Overland train, a 10 hour journey from Melbourne to Adelaide, for his...
View ArticleAdelaide, Glenelg and Dolphins
I hadn’t been to Adelaide since I was about 13 years old and my strongest memory of that trip was seeing a lot of VW beetles driving around. This resulted in a lot of ‘punch buggy’ hits from my...
View ArticleCycling the Barossa
I loved cycling in the Barossa Valley. Smooth, off-road bike paths traversing the countryside and weaving alongside and even through vineyards, makes me a happy cyclist. The Jack Bobridge Path and...
View ArticleCalifornia Dreamin’– Pacific Coast Highway
‘All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey…’ The words of the Mamas & the Papas (though I know them better from The Beach Boys) went round and round my head. Actually, they still are. I can...
View ArticleLike a Week in the Desert – Joshua Tree National Park
We left some of California’s most beautiful and green coastal parks to make our journey across the state to the Joshua Tree National Park. The road took us through the dustbowl, and the landscape...
View ArticleOne Day in San Diego – the USS Midway
What to do with a day in San Diego. First of all, you ask the lovely Jolene, who has lived in San Diego for years. Jolene, who I haven’t seen for more years than I care to count, kindly sent …...
View ArticleDriving Along in a Campervan – JUCY versus Escape
With only a week left in California, Barry and I opted against staying in an affordable (and possibly grungy) hotel room in San Diego or Los Angeles and hit the road on another US Road Trip. We...
View ArticleA Sequoia is Not a Redwood – Sequoia National Park, California
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park After seeing the majestic California Redwoods in Big Sur, Barry and I were enchanted enough to brave the cold weather in search of more big trees in Sequoia...
View ArticleOn the Road to Grand Canyon National Park
My desire to see as much as possible had us driving across California, through the Dust Bowl, nipping through Nevada (skirting Las Vegas for now) and finally into Arizona for the Grand Canyon. We...
View ArticleWe Made It – Grand Canyon National Park
Our first view of the Grand Canyon made the drive all the more worthwhile. We arrived in the dark so it wasn’t until the next morning that we got to the South Rim. We camped at Mathers campground, in...
View ArticleTwo Months in Paradise – Part 1
Two months in the Caribbean is never enough (although it’s quite expensive so when you’re not working two months is maybe too much). Thanks to my wonderful friend Claudia we did get to make the most...
View Article