When country folk celebrate they do it with infectious enthusiasm, and the annual Xmas pageant at Oatlands was no different. But, when I first saw the fire engine, above, go past with its flotilla of go-karts following in a cloud of fumes I felt sorry for the young tykes driving them. Initially what I thought [...] Read more – ‘Country celebrations’.
While waiting to board the Spirit of Tasmania ferry in Melbourne yesterday afternoon, the temperature sat above 33°C. It was also humid, and a large thunderstorm was building up in the west. I was not a happy camper, high temperatures and muggy weather did not suit me at all and I was looking forward to [...] Read more – ‘Back for Summer’.
Been camped next to the freezing snowmelt waters of the Ovens River near Bright for nearly a week and I am convinced it has restorative powers. True, the camp might simply have coincided with my ongoing recuperation, but I’m giving Mother Nature the nod. Read more – ‘Nature’s cure’.
A geological pimple on the flat surrounding plains, the dormant volcano Mt Franklin, was a popular destination for miners from the surrounding goldfields a century or more ago. The cheerful group above, had come all the way from the gold mining village of Eaglehawk, 70km to the north, to picnic at Mt Franklin in 1908 [...] Read more – ‘A 1908 picnic party’.
I slept in a volcano last night — a first. Admittedly is was dormant, and had been for millions of years. This nearby copse of deciduous trees, above, belied the dormancy with its skeletal white trunks and carpet of white, bleached leaves discarded last Autumn. Mt Franklin is just north of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, [...] Read more – ‘Camped in a volcano’.
It has been a while, but finally I’m on the road again. For seven long months I was forced to hover near Hobart for various medical appointments, operations, and followups. I won’t bore you with the details (some of which I’ve talked about elsewhere in the Ghostgum Chronicles), but suffice to say I did not [...] Read more – ‘On the road again’.
Having recently celebrated two years of life on the road its time to sum up the journey so far. The short version: I wish I had launched this adventure at least 10 years ago. The long version: It would have been a lot harder to do back then considering the need to work and the [...] Read more – ‘Two years on the road …’.
Here are three good reasons for wanting to head north before June. All were taken in Tasmania in June. That’s London Lakes in the Central Highlands above, and Lake Dobson in Mt Field National Park, below. And here’s what my windscreen looked like several days in a row last June. Read more – ‘Why I’m heading north before June’.
When friends and family asked me why I was heading off to live, work and travel fulltime on the road, I referred them to this quote by G.K. Chesterton: The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a [...] Read more – ‘Why?’.
More than 25 years ago I travelled the length and breadth of Australia to research three books. I travelled on commercial airlines, light planes and helicopters, in hire cars, battered outback Toyotas and Land Rovers, by camel and horse, on cross country skis, by hot air balloon, motorboats and yachts, on bicycle, in sea kayaks, [...] Read more – ‘The journey begins’.