Archive for the 'General' Category

Happy New Year

Town Beach, Guichen Bay, Robe, SE South Australia

Happy New Year.

I trust that 2011 will bring you many blessings and enjoyable times.

I have enjoyed sharing with my many readers some of my adventures as I have travelled the wonderful country of Australia. My articles here have been a little spasmodic over the last three years as I’ve struggled with the demands of my Master of Arts degree and with some health issues. Now that’s behind me, I hope to be able to share with you many more travels in the coming years.

New adventure

A few years ago my daughter inspired me to accompany her on a trek through the Himalayas. You can read about my adventures in my archives called Travels in Nepal. Later this year she will be teaching overseas for a semester. My wife and I are planning to visit her and so you can look forward to many photos and articles about our travels in Africa. Stay tuned.

In the meantime come back here often as I plan to update this site at least three times a week.

Happy New Year.

My daughter taking a photo of me, Sydney Fish Markets

New design for this site

Regular readers of this site will notice that it now has a new design.

I hope you like it. My son does all the design work and maintenance on my sites.

The photo used in the banner at the top shows me with Mt Everest in the background. You can read all about my trek there by clicking here.

Ama Dablam, Nepal

Another trip

Giraffe at Monarto Zoo, South Australia

I’m back again after quite a lull in postings here on my travel blog. Truth is, I’ve been very busy working on my novel for children over the last few months. I wrote the story last year, but more recently I’ve been trolling through it over and over to get it just right. I’m now up to the 8th draft and it’s almost ready to go off to a publisher. You can read about how I went about writing the story by clicking here.

My novel is set in the beautiful country of Nepal. You can read about my travels in Nepal by clicking here.

I’ve recently been on a road trip to Sydney to spend time with family, especially my new grandson. Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing photos and writing about that trip, so stayed tuned.

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horse, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horse, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

The Mongolian Wild Horse, or Przewalski’s Horse was once very common throughout much of central Asia. It is thought that they became extinct in the wild, but conservation efforts by zoos like Monarto Zoo in South Australia have been instrumental in reintroducing this species back into its natural habitat.

The breeding programme here at Monarto just a few minutes’ drive from my home has been very successful, and quite a few horses from the zoo herd have been returned to Mongolia. It is conservation efforts like this that make me pleased to be a supporting member of the zoo.

Further reading:

  • To read more about zoos around the world, go to my son’s web site called ZooChat Forums. It features almost 1000 zoos and over 100,000 photos of zoos and animals.
  • To read more about my visits to zoos, click here.
  • To read about birds in zoos, click here.
Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

An interesting toilet break, Tintinara

Information Centre and Art Gallery, Tintinara

Information Centre and Art Gallery, Tintinara

Tintinara in the upper south east of South Australia is a delightful rural centre. As the sign on the information centre (photo above) indicates, this is the heart of national parks in the region. On my recent visit I spent some time exploring the town. This was deliberate as I had the time to do it. Normally we just drive straight through on our way elsewhere.

If you look carefully at the building shown above (click on the photo to enlarge the image) you can see that the locals have an interesting sense of humour. An artist has painted a couple sitting there waiting for the train. The building now used as the information centre and craft gallery used to serve as the town’s railway station. The trains to Melbourne and Adelaide still pass through here but the passenger service is very limited.

In the park a few metres away are some public toilets. The same artist has been at work here too.

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia

I wonder if you can guess which way to go to the men’s toilets, and where the ladies’ toilets are located. I took some close up photos to help you. If you’re still not sure, click on the photos to enlarge the image and look for the standardised toilet symbol sticker on the wall above the figures.

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia

Artwork on toilet wall, Tintinara, SE South Australia