After my time in Mt Isa, I met Will at the Townsville airport. We picked up our hire car and started the trip North to take us as far as Cooktown. On the way, we passed farms of sugar canes lining the roads and a long thick snake, dead and sprawled across the road. We stopped in Tully, famous for its banana farms and labour from backpackers eagerly working off their farm hours on their working hol Read on...
Leaving Auckland, we headed a couple of hours south to Matamata. Nearby, on what used to be a 506 hectare (1250 acre) sheep farm, Sir Peter Jackson found what he felt was the perfect site to locate his set for The Shire. In particular, a large tree matched a tree described in Tolkiens works. He built the set using temporary materials for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. By agreement with the landown Read on...
On the road again this time to another site near Rouen. We are making our way back home and cannot decide whether to get the ferry or the tunnel let alone what time we are going to cross. The journey to this campsite was a bit different as we needed to get a ferry across to Jumieges where our next site is and then found out that the height limit was 3 metres. Well our rig is 2.89 metres and then a Read on...
Although they eat some very unusual shit in Thailand, cooking with poo is, thankfully, not literal. Its the cooking school of Poo, a lady from the Khlong Toei slum in Bangkok. Before starting her cooking school, Poo spent 14 hours a day cooking food and making money, about 200 bhat ($7usd) a day. But a bubbly personality, a pinch of tenaciousness, a dollop of help from an Australian missionary, Read on...
For my last weekend trip I decided to head back to Murchison Falls. Mostly for the giraffes, but I also love the plentiful elephants as well as the unique landscape. We got there in enough time to see the falls for a second time, just as impressive as the first time. As well as an evening game drive before dinner. I ended up staying at the same hotel I stayed at the first time. They have a great v Read on...
Last trek post, I promise! It busied up a bit at the Section 7/8 stage, these sections being the most popular with day hikers/section hikers and larger tour groups with their own campsites. Prior to this Id walk for many hours without seeing anyone. It was also at this stage youd see the same faces on the trail and at camp each night. A diverse lot, all sorts, all ages; from a family of 4 with pro Read on...
Another decent walk today - I actually merged two walks from Castleton together (to make FrankenWalk!)
Our trip was almost sabotaged by a collapsed dry stone wall partially blocking the track, but we cleared the stones out of the way then called our landlord to see if they could contact the farmer to make sure the cattle in the field didnt escape through the broken wall.
We set off from Castleto Read on...
The incredible and magical Giants Causeway has awed and astounded millions of tourists over the years with its mystique and uniqueness, but long before it became easy for world travelers to journey to the County Antrim UNESCO World Heritage site, wonder has always surrounded the story of its creation. We know now the true yet still amazing reason for its existence and how the 40,000 interlocking b Read on...
Most of us think about feta when to Greek cheese. And it is Greeces most popular cheese. According to Greek myth, Aristaeus, the son of Apollo, learned how to make cheese from the nymphs, and later taught mere mortals the gift of cheese making. But we do know that Greek cheese has been around since the 8th century BC. Cheese remains an integral part of Greek diet and cuisine. Nearly every meal, fr Read on...
The next morning we set out for our next adventure, climbing Mt Kinabalu! Felix had registered all our details (including evidence of a negative Covid test) and we congregated at the park headquarters together our 3 mountain guides Sai, Edwin and Bonny. As we had to take our overnight gear with us, most of us sent a small amount of gear with porters. And with that we set of to the Timpohon gate th Read on...