Author Archives: John Rose

On an Island in the Sun….Bali

February 2019 Karen’s mum, Bernadette was taken on a surprise Asia Trip for her 60th Birthday in Feb 2019. The last leg of that trip was in Bali. Unbeknownst to her Iain and the girls had arranged to make this part a family trip with Laura and Dan flying out from Glasgow in secret and […]

MonoChrome Monday : Island of Bali

Selection of monochrome photos of Bali, Indonesia – Ubud and Tirta Empul  

MonoChrome Monday : Three Sisters

The Three Sisters – Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia  

Scotland Island – Small, Far Away

January 2019 The travel bug started for us when we realised that with both of our birthdays being in January ( a mere 4 days apart) we could get each other stuff for presents or we could spend the money on travel and explore the world together. About a week out from John’s Birthday, Karen […]

MonoChrome Monday : Uluru

Uluru National Park- and Kings Canyon – by Land and by Air – Northern Territory, Australia

There and Back Again – Falkirk and Fife

Chariots of Fire During our Hogmanay Hootananny in Pitcarlie House we found ourselves a short drive from a lovely spot of Scotland. Located between Dundee and Edinburgh is the coastal town of St Andrews and it’s West Sands Beach. This provided the perfect spot for a brisk walk and chance to blow out the cobwebs […]

MonoChrome Monday : Kelpies

The Kelpies – Falkirk, Scotland, UK

Yes, but what about Second Christmas Dinner?

The main benefits of being in an ‘International’ relationship is that every trip home involves two locations – two families and particularly at Christmas – two dinners 🙂 This year would be no exception. The Scottish leg of our home trip began with a night in Shawlands staying with Dan and Laura where we had […]

Wordless Wednesday: Beauty

A Very Irish Christmas

December 2018 Normally when we fly into Dublin it is not the end of our journey, but the beginning of the end – a 3 hour car journey awaits us back to Midleton. This time would be different. We had one more stop to make before heading back to the Rebel County. 24km west of […]

Vienna Part 2: Music, Museums and More Markets

Throughout the course of human history, different cities became hubs for various strands of human endeavour. Florence was the crucible in which the Renaissance flourished. Venice and Xian, two cities seperated by distance and cultures became powerhouses thanks to their locations at either end of the Silk Road.  Videogames (and their records) have their capital […]

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

December 2018 As we boarded our Qatar Airways flight in Sydney I was caught humming the tune to Driving Home for Christmas. Chris Rea at his best! This would be our first flight / drive for Christmas in Europe since 2015. Our first Christmas in Europe together 🙂 But not quite yet. We take a slightly […]

Tales of the Gold Coast

October 2018 In this edition of the blog I bring you a tale of adventure, exploration and discovery. Between the metropolis of Brisbane and the New South Wales Border to the south is another city, a hidden city. To the casual observer this area looks like any other, coastal region, miles of beaches punctuated by […]

Stuck in the Middle with Uluru

the world was a featureless place until the 10 ancestors (spirit people) of the Anangu came into being and travelled across the land, creating the features like Uluru that we see today. It represents the physical evidence of their time on the earth and is seen as one of their most dramatic and inspiring creations. […]

rAD-elaide Part 2

July 2018 It had been a number of years since we had been to Adelaide and with some Virgin Australia points to burn we booked ourselves flights down for a weekend. The last time we stayed in Tarndanyangga  we had stayed in a random part of town away from all the action and we remember […]