Manic Street Preachers are back!!

As if they were ever away…last year’s highly acclaimed album, “Journal For Plague Lovers” ranks amongst the best I’ve ever bought. A band with meaningful lyrics. A band drenched deep in history, culture, travel and world politics. I’m even more excited now, at the prospect of a new album…and an Australian tour! Yes that’s right Read more about Manic Street Preachers are back!![…]

Brunswick Hotel, Victoria Tavern, Glentoran v Dundee United, Bushmills and The Charlatans

My second time in Hobart was three months after my first time. And I’ll be back again next week to watch the World Cup with a Northern Irish mate. It’s a city that has grown on me, or what I mean is I didn’t like it much at the start and now I do. I Read more about Brunswick Hotel, Victoria Tavern, Glentoran v Dundee United, Bushmills and The Charlatans[…]

“Here’s A Truck Stop Instead Of St. Peter’s – Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”

“Here’s a truck stop instead of St. Peter’s Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”, I have to admit that I don’t have a clue what that means. I am often confused by lyrics, and especially some of those REM lyrics from the early 90s. This particular lyric could easily have applied to my overnight stay at St. Read more about “Here’s A Truck Stop Instead Of St. Peter’s – Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah”[…]

Backpacking in Australia: Watching Karisma Katz Live At Eucalypt Lawn, Canberra

Nobody turns down a free concert do they? Well, I don’t. Though on this occasion, I almost did. My mate Neil has a knack of spotting random things happening nearby. He reads newspapers and magazines and keeps up to date with what’s going on, much more than I do. This means it’s great to travel Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Watching Karisma Katz Live At Eucalypt Lawn, Canberra[…]

Backpacking in Australia: Visiting Canberra’s Carillon

What is a Carillon? I’m not really sure and I’m not going to look it up in a dictionary, and the first time I’d heard that word was January 2010, while in Canberra, Australia’s under-rated and often over-looked capital. Sitting nicely and obviously in front of Lake Burley Griffin, lies this “Carillon”, which is actually Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Visiting Canberra’s Carillon[…]

Thirsty Thursdays: Pizza, Pulp and Winning the Karaoke in Melbourne

Its almost too obvious doing all the major cities when you’re a traveller or a nomad, but somehow you end up in them anyway. In China I done Beijing, in Belarus Minsk and in Australia Melbourne. I like to get a mix of the big cities and the random smaller settlements however. But yet Melbourne Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Pizza, Pulp and Winning the Karaoke in Melbourne[…]

Spirit of Tasmania ferry 2010

World Borders: Sailing from Melbourne to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry, Australia

I have always loved ships. Ever since the days of getting the St David or the Galloway Princess from Larne to Stranraer or from going out boating with my mate Peter Bell and his step -Dad Ken Taylor on the Impala yacht in Ringhaddy. Then in 2008 I worked on the Isle of Wight ferries Read more about World Borders: Sailing from Melbourne to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry, Australia[…]

Backpacking in Australia: Cronulla and not meeting Jarvis Cocker in Sydney

Cronulla was another of the famous beaches in and around the Sydney area. It wasn’t on my list of must sees, but we decided to do it anyway. My current pub job normally means I have two full days off (or one over Christmas and New Year!), and so at the start of December I Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Cronulla and not meeting Jarvis Cocker in Sydney[…]