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Sabbatical

Exit via Noosa

Noosa Heads might just have won on account of not being Uluru. But I reckon it’d have won anyway, in small town terms. It’s a lovely little place – turns out it’s one of the...

Red rocks’n’flies: Uluru

Part of traveling is trying exotic new foods. So I’m pleased to report that pot noodles have improved immensely since my student days in the 90s. As have other little things like, you know, the...

Wine and volcanoes

So if you come here, give yourself more than two weeks or you’ll wind up kicking yourself at the end, feeling you barely scraped the surface. But even that surface makes an amazing bloody trip...

Hot water beach

This was just beautiful. We caught it soon after dawn, before most people had arrived, and dug into the sand to form a beautifully warm pool, perfect while it was still cool outside. One side had...

Rotorua geothermal area

Rotorua was as gorgeous as it was nauseating too: the rotten egg smell had us both retching slightly. The Wai-o-tapu geothermal area was all boiling kerosene pits, crystallised sulphur vents, and...

From fire to ice

So, for a complete change of pace: New Zealand. We’re both madly in love with it so far. Bearable temperatures, and OMGz jaw droppingly beautiful landscapes, and even more OMGz things to do...

Melbourne Pride

We’d both done Sydney Pride, Vanessa in 2000 and me in 2002, and a hella party it was, too. But Melbourne wins, at this slightly more advanced stage. You can actually see what’s happening, for one...

Melbourne – coffee city

A few things I’m noticing about Melbourne: Coffee. Everywhere. Even regular McDonalds here has baristas and proper machines, apparently. (Fun fact: the McCafe was invented in Melbourne.)Plus: a...

Proper hot. Sydney.

The clouds I’d brought Sydney weren’t very good and evaporated today. I’ll bring some proper ones from Ireland next time; a nice thick layer of misery, with fog falling through rain...

Sydney for starters

One can always find things to complain about if one really tries. For example, the BA business class flight to Sydney was rife with problems, such as: one had to make one’s own bed. Yes, the...