Pre Lockdown. Happy on the Gisborne rail trail with Warwick. No idea what was in store for the rest of 2020.
Yes!!! Looking back on a year that will certainly be remembered and written into the journals of history, 2020 was certainly different.
And thats from someone living in NZ and well away from the nightmares that so many people around the world had to live with.
But!!! Yes, But. I look bac Read on...
Promised a look at the ice sculptures in Chinatown, we gathered at Pumphouse Theatre for our gentle 10 km trek. The Bow River Pathway was cleared of snow and ice, allowing our minds to wander and conversation to flow. With the chinook developing behind us, trees and bushes were silhouetted black against the frozen white of the river.
The detour around the work near the Centre Street Bridge broug Read on...
The Castle of the Counts owes its existence to the Counts of Flanders. In the ninth century, Count Baldwin II built fortifications at all strategic places in his realm to protect himself from attacks from outside. His son, Arnulf I, continued with this work and built a fortress in Ghent at the confluence of the Rivers Leie and Scheldt on the site of the present Castle of the Counts.
As well as be Read on...
Zebegny - The town has a rich history. By 1251 a Benedictine convent had been built in the valley of the Mill Creek. Records from the 8th century note the existence of the village. The first record of the village name dates from a letter of 1295, when it was called Zebeguen.
In the late medieval ages, during the Turkish invasion, the village was almost destroyed. Zebegny and the area repelled the Read on...
Nachdem ich ber die Feiertage 10 Nchte im Haus meiner Mutter verbracht hatte, fuhr ich gestern vom Raum Nrnberg zurck nach Mnchen. Dabei machte ich einen Halt in Ingolstadt, um mir die Stadt anzusehen. In der Nhe des Neuen Schlosses, in dem sich das Bayerische Armeemuseum befindet, fand ich einen kostenlosen Parkplatz. Auf die Besichtigung dieser Anlage verzichtete ich aber. Ich wei auch gar nicht Read on...
We awoke to another absolute cracker day in Karamea and the sound of the two milk tankers on the nearby SH67 that travel 234km each way every day to and from Hokitika on SH6 and SH67 to pick up milk from the 29 dairy farms in the Karamea region. Actually the tankers dont really make much noise it is just that with so little and going into Karamea that there is for road noise from other traffic on Read on...
In this fine article, George Monbiot argues that a growing world population and economic expansionism mean we are heading for disaster:
Ive been saying for some time - years now? - that its all much too late. We had one planet and we have indeed (your word) fucked it up. Were past the tipping point to disaster. And in any case human population and pollution is still increasing. It isnt reducing. Read on...
We took the Southern Scenic Route drive to Invercargill from Manapouri. Were struck by how little traffic there is down here and how good the road surfaces are. A scarcity of bloody great heavy trucks might have something to do with the latter. South through Borland, Clifden, Tuatapere where we stopped for some lunch and had our best cheese roll to date as we attempt to connoisseurs of the mighty Read on...
I heard of Bolita from other travelers who had been there. As I was considering going to Corcovado National Park, they suggested Bolita as an alternative, a hostel inside a primary rainforest, accessed from Puerto Jimenez.
What attracted me to Bolita (apart from traveler reviews) was this was an individual effort at conservation and its remoteness.
To get to Bolita (and to return from it), you h Read on...
This morning I was up early to catch the morning light. It was a soft pale blue fading into a pastel pink. Two guys were craning a long timber boat onto the slipway opposite us, and pretty soon were scraping and power cleaning the hull before lowering it back into its mooring. An hour later and the lake was glistening. The water mirrors the shoreline, as large black birds glide across the sky, occ Read on...