Minus 3C frost and deep fog saw us depart Canberra around 0730AM. Out via Yass,we were soon heading northwest above the snowy mountains then slowly inched around to Gundagai – famous for its statue of the Dog on the Tucker Box. This commemorates a story of hardship of the early …
Why drive across a continent when preparing to walk across a country? In some ways, a road trip has some parallels with a pilgrimage walk, in that it is time-out-of-time or time out of place, which takes us out of the day-to-day context. It is a time to build resilience …
We are marinating in information and distractive technologies. I noticed recently that I check my phone quite regularly from the time I wake up until the moment my head hits the pillow – just after I’ve plugged the phone into the charger. I do occasionally make actual phone calls, but …
Imprints on the landscape around Sydney’s The Rocks area reveal a number tangible elements of Australia’s European foundation narratives which you can see today if you know what to look for. As you walk around Circular Quay you can see small brass medallions laid out along the shoreline of 1788 …
Travel with a tripod? Planning for a long trek on foot, it is important to pack and travel as light as possible. But does that mean you have to compromise on recording the experience? I pondered that when considering alternatives to a camera tripod. For the Camino de Santiago de Compostela …
I must admit I’m just a bit excited. I’ve had some time out from this blog and I’ve been thinking about doing a very different kind of travel – something to challenge me and at the same time giving me space to reflect. Mindful travel requires time to process the experience. …
Go to any travel site and you’ll see a dozen packing lists for your trip – whether for short or long travel, what tech equipment to take, which shoes and hats to take and so on – but there is one list that seems to be missing. And it is …
One of the great delights, whether in the Tuilleries garden in Paris or at the centre of many French towns, are the myriad colourful carousels. They are loved by children worldwide and form a component of almost every amusement park. Once they were the main attraction, but time and technology …
Recent scientific research on what makes us happy shows that experiences, however one-off or short-lived, are more effective at sustaining our happiness than buying a longer lasting thing. This seems counter-intuitive, but according to Dr Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University: “We buy things to make us happy, and …
