Just last month I went to Macquarie University, on the western edge of Sydney. I had a day off work, and my flatmate Rebecca was still a student at the time – studying at this massive University – Macquarie University. It was a blast from the past and a throwback to my days at University Read more about Visiting Macquarie University in Australia: Throwback To My Student Days[…]
My fascination with ferries (and boats in general) hasn’t waned. The fascination began in childhood when we would have our family holidays on mainland UK. This meant getting in the car and getting the car ferry from Northern Ireland over to Scotland. Something we did manys a time. I loved travel from an early age. Read more about World Borders: Taking The Interislander Ferry From Picton (South Island) to Wellington (North Island), New Zealand[…]
The above quote, the headline, the lyric and the song was something which I first discovered on arrival in Australia, “the land down under” back in October 2009. Seems a lifetime ago now. The lyric comes from the Jimmy Barnes/Cold Chisel hit song “Khe Sahn”, a song which will forever remind me of my time Read more about “The Last Plane Out of Sydney’s Almost Gone, And In Seven Flying Hours I’ll Be Landing in Hong Kong” *[…]
It really doesn’t matter…but it once did and in some parts of the world it still does and always will. BUT IT SHOULDN’T, OK. I’m hardly justified by posting this, but having now returned to what is considered a more “white culture” in terms of lighter skinned people, rather than darker skinned people. This “black” Read more about “If you wanna be my baby, it don’t matter baby yeah yeah yeah…” Michael Jackson[…]
I write a lot about places I visit and my memories there. What I normally neglect to mention in the madness of it all are the places I stay and the transport I use hopping to and fro, so I will try and give more reviews of hostels, bus journeys, train journeys, hotels and airports Read more about Staying at the Glow Worm Cottages, Franz Josef, New Zealand[…]
It wasn’t the first time I left Auckland international airport. I had been there 3 and a half years earlier, flying that time to Kuala Lumpur, on an onward connection to the Chinese capital of Beijing. Here in 2010, I was slightly more worldly, more eager and infinitely more nervous. Nervous and excited all in Read more about Goodbye Oceania – Another Auckland Farewell[…]
LADY GAGA – PAPA PAPAMOA:
Australia has a few Scottish towns and influences of course (Perth for one, and Bothwell for another). But Maclean is in the north part of New South Wales and I popped in to see what was there. Advertising itself and promoting itself as “THE Scottish town in Australia”, tartan designs, bagpipes, murals, Scottish names and Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Touring Maclean, The Scottish Town[…]
Haven’t we been here before?? Hmmm…yes that’s right that place where something clicked and was once the place I described as my favourite place on earth. The city of Rotorua in New Zealand. From my visit there in 2007, I hadn’t actually meant to return to volcanic Rotorua and in fact did my best to Read more about Sulphur Sniffing and Reminiscing in…Rotorua: De Ja Vu[…]