Tag Archives: Travel
A Very Irish Christmas
In December 2018, a family trip to Dublin included a visit to Maynooth and Uncle Kevin at St Patrick’s College. They attended a Christmas Carol Service, toured the college, and enjoyed an on-campus dinner. The journey continued to Cork, featuring family bonding, games, and memorable excursions, highlighting the festive spirit.
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 […]
Japan Part 8: Tokyo Drift
When we are very organised we arrange for a tour on our first full day in a new city. This helps us get our bearings, sample a selection of top sights on day 1 and get some insider information from the guides – “eat in this district”, “get here before 9am to not queue” etc. […]
Japan Part 7: Castle on a Cloud
Located 117km southwest of Kyoto is coastal city of Himeji. More like a town really with its 500,000 inhabitants compared to the metropolitan region of Osaka/Kyoto/Nara. Why were we leaving the hustle and bustle of downtown Kyoto to visit this smaller place? Himeji Castle… that’s why! Its a 17min walk up the wide boulevard of […]
Japan Part 6: All that Glitters is not Gold!
Can you make scrambled eggs in a cup? Not one of life’s most interesting questions. Not one I thought I would find myself pondering in 2018 in modern-era Japan. The answer is – yes, yes you can! As long as you stir the sh1t out of them with a plastic fork. About 5 days into […]
Japan Part 4: Chronicles Of Nara
Our next stop on our Japan Journey was the Old Imperial Capital City of Nara in the Kansai Region. The younger sister city to neighbouring metropoli / metropolises / metropoles* of Osaka and Kyoto. The only challenge was that we were 400km away, and on another island. 3 Trains and a ferry later and we […]
Vivid 2018: …and there are lights!
As my wife and I trained in Bradfield Park our eyes were fixed on the familiar sight of the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay, an almost 5 year fixture in our lives. Except tonight it was shining a bit brighter than normlal…oh crap it’s May -> that means Vivid Festival is here. Billed as […]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Wheel
A pair of wheels for this weeks challenge. On the right is the famous Falkirk Wheel in Falkirk, Scotland. This unique design connects the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal. A masterpiece of engineering. On the left is a wheel of cinnamon and apple turnovers that we enjoyed at the Hopewell Lodge in […]
Japan Part 3: Miyajima Island
Our next destination would be the nearby island of Itsukushima. It is more popularly known as Miyajima “Shrine Island” and is famous for its large Tori Gate Shrine – Itsukushima Shrine. To get there would involve a train, a boat and a walk to our Ryokan (a Japanese style Inn). It was decided that we […]


