Never smile at a you-know-what
Crocodiles are part of life in northern Australia. Just hope that the only place you get close to one is in the safe confines of a…
Up, up and away in a beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon? Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon? It’s hard to keep that song out of…
Whatever happened to the Von Trapp children?
Dame Julie Andrews is 80 now, but the stardom surrounding her role as Maria in The Sound of Music has never dimmed. Although she was absent…
Fifty years of The Sound of Music
When Maria von Trapp led her Captain and seven children across the mountains – or, more accurately, her nine children out the garden gate to the…
Smiles from the ‘Hapi Isles’
The Solomon Islands is also called the “Hapi Isles”. It doesn’t take much of a guess to work out what the pidgin word “hapi” means in…
Sunrise in the Solomons
Streams of golden sunlight falling on my face woke me on my second morning in the Solomon Islands. I scrambled out of bed, grabbed my camera…
The mystery of Agatha Christie
Despite being a huge crime fiction fan, it had been many years since I’d read an Agatha Christie novel. That changed on a visit to Devon,…
My 2015 in pictures
As 2015 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on all the wonderful places I’ve been during the year. Many of my travels weren’t too…
Ideas for your travelling wardrobe
Find pieces to make up a great travelling wardrobe is often a case of serendipity, coming across something by accident that will be the perfect thing…
In the footsteps of Jandamarra, an indigenous folk hero
Australians love folk heroes. Victorian bushranger Ned Kelly has become a legend for his exploits, with books and films created to feed the story of the…
A Glass Half Full 