Most people drive straight past Ross. The Midland Highway bypasses the village entirely, so unless you know it is there and make the deliberate turn, you will never see it. That is actually part of why it is still worth seeing – the bypass that inconveniences drivers is the same reason Ross has remained one of the most intact nineteenth century villages in...
I love Lombok. Every time I go, I make the same quiet promise to myself — that one day, when life allows it, I’ll buy a piece of land near one of these beaches and stay forever. It’s the natural beauty, yes, but more than that it’s the quietness. The absence of the mass tourism that has transformed so much of Bali. Lombok still feels like a place...
I have visited 43 countries and passed through more cities than I can count. Launceston is not a city that announces itself loudly. It does not have a famous harbour or a skyline you recognise from postcards. It is compact, quiet, and slightly hilly – the kind of place that rewards walking rather than rushing. I spent two nights here as a base for exploring...
Nikko is a small but beautiful city in Japan. It is located in Togichi prefecture in a mountainous setting and is a popular tourist weekend gateway from Tokyo. This photo guide will tell you about a list of things to do in Nikko.
Nara is easy to underestimate. I went expecting to feed some deer and be done in a few hours. I came back having spent a full day and still felt like I’d missed things. Japan’s first permanent capital — before the seat of power moved to Kyoto in 794 — Nara is quieter than Kyoto, less crowded than Tokyo, and in some ways more concentrated in its historical...
Most tourists heading to Kuala Lumpur never make it here. That’s their loss. I almost skipped Putrajaya. When you’re in Kuala Lumpur, the Petronas Towers demand your attention, Batu Caves your energy, and Melaka your weekend. Putrajaya — Malaysia’s administrative capital — sits quietly on the outskirts, largely ignored by the tourist trail. I only...
I had just come back from a full day at Cradle Mountain. Most people would have called it a day. But it was only early evening, my hotel was in the Launceston CBD, and someone had mentioned that Cataract Gorge was walkable from the city centre. I had nothing but time and slightly tired legs, so I went. That turned out to be one of the better decisions of the Tasmania...
I have visited 45 countries, and I have seen some genuinely beautiful places along the way. Cradle Mountain belongs in that list – and I was not expecting it to hit as hard as it did. This was my second day in Tasmania. I had based myself in Launceston rather than Hobart, which turned out to be a smart decision – Launceston is only about 2.5 hours from...
Most people flying into Tasmania head straight to Hobart. I didn’t. I flew into Launceston instead – and it turned out to be a great decision. Starting in the north put me right at the beginning of a route that took me through Cradle Mountain, the historic village of Ross, and eventually down to Hobart by bus. If you’re planning something similar...
Twenty kilometres inland from Taormina, a river runs through a canyon that lava made. The Alcantara Gorges — Gole dell’Alcantara in Italian — are what happens when a volcano erupts, lava flows into a riverbed, cools rapidly in the water, and fractures into columns of dark basalt. The Alcantara River then spends the next nine thousand years carving its way...