Perth & Rottnest Island

Not originally on our itinerary, we ended up in Perth for a week when we began to change our travel plans due to COVID-19. It’s a really nice place, and was much lower key and warmer than Sydney or Melbourne. I was kind of stupid to wait this long to write up the final major stop of our trip, some … Read more

Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road & The Grampians

After a week in Melbourne, this four day road trip was the sixth leg of our 2020 Australia trip. Copious wildlife and epic scenery were the order of the day. Whereas getting out of Canberra for Melbourne couldn’t happen fast enough, I was almost reticent to leave the latter for this four day roadie. It was probably the leg of … Read more

Melbourne

A week in Melbourne was the fifth leg of our 2020 COVID19-shortened trip to Australia and Asia. I think Melbourne was actually our favourite city in Oz. To be honest, four days in Canberra was plenty for us, and we couldn’t wait to leave for Melbourne. A few years ago my son spent a few months there and had glowing … Read more

Canberra

Probably the only place from our trip to Australia I wouldn’t want to visit again, Canberra does have some nice cultural stuff and good beer. This was leg four of our trip, four nights in the Australian capital. Overall Impressions Canberra was our least-favourite stop on the whole trip. We still managed to see some wildlife, enjoy some really good … Read more

Brisbane, Bundaberg & Noosa

Our second week in Australia was spent in Brisbane, Bundaberg and Noosa. A real study in contrasts, this leg of the trip saw a river city, sub-tropical beaches, turtles, Great Barrier Reef and snorkelling. Flying from Sydney to Brisbane was a nice short 90 minute zip up the coast from New South Wales to Queensland. Brisbane also has really nice, … Read more

Blue Mountains & Newcastle

A week in the Sydney area was our first stop for a month in Australia. This is the two-day road trip we took to end that week. After five nights in Sydney, we decided we’d take a car and drive up to the beautiful Blue Mountains, then take a road less-travelled and make our way up the coast a little … Read more

Sydney

Pre-COVID, 2020 was to be a year of long overdue travel. A week in the Sydney area was our first stop for a planned month in Australia and nearly as long in southeast Asia. Travel For a 15 hour flight in cramped economy, things really couldn’t have gone much better. Our flying time ended up being 14:55. Connie slept better … Read more

A Year in Victoria, a Brief Review

At the beginning of 2019 I wrote about our decision to move to Victoria. While we hoped this was going to be a permanent thing, we also knew we were testing the water to some degree. Life has a habit of handing you surprises and, as I wrote in October it did just that. I won’t rehash any of those … Read more

Wandering

When you come to a fork in the road, take it. — Yogi Berra A little under a year ago we undertook a pretty sizeable life change. Around Christmas I was offered a job with the provincial government and in January we moved across the Strait of Georgia to live in Victoria, ostensibly permanently. For the most part, the move’s … Read more

A Personal Philosophy

Philosophy: the beliefs you have about how you should behave in particular situations in life. I’ve tried to live with a few simple guidelines for some time now. I’m not really one for manifestos or rigid creeds, but recently I’ve been trying to think of my values in terms of a simply stated philosophy. A few words that can encompass … Read more