There is stunning natural scenery covering the length and breadth of Tasmania, in this magical tourist island below the east coast of Australia. In a family group we drove our cars onto the ferry for the journey across the Bass Strait, with a plan to rendezvous with another brother after he flew direct into Hobart. Tasmania was a first time travel destination for all of us, and my eldest brother hatched the plan to visit the Apple Isle when he was posted in Melbourne temporarily for work. The ferry trip from Melbourne was a relatively calm overnighter and we were lucky [View Full Entry]

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Located in the wilds of Cradle Mountain National Park the Overland Track is one of the most famous bushwalks in the world. The track is a tough 90 odd kilometre walk through pristine wilderness where walkers are constantly surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty of Tasmania, and the park is in the middle of an island state that is a world renowned travel destination. The beautifully maintained track features strategically positioned bush huts to warm the bones of intrepid walkers at the end of another long day in the Aussie bush. We embarked from the ferry out of Melbourne to start [View Full Entry]

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When the head office of the company I'd been working for closed down their Sydney operations it provided me with a perfect opportunity to embark on a relaxing overseas holiday to the South Pacific. There are several great travel destinations in the islands of the South Pacific all just a short flight from the east coast of Australia. I chose Port Vila for my holiday, which is the capital of Vanuatu situated on Efate Island. I boarded a plane in Sydney for the effortless three hour flight before touching down in Vanuatu which felt like arriving in another world. A short [View Full Entry]

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My job in Sydney working for an oil exploration company led to a second business trip overseas, and the final destination proved to be out of this world! My boss gave me the go ahead to accompany a geologist to an offshore oil rig off the coast of Taranaki, which is situated on the North Island of New Zealand. I'd never travelled to the land of our Kiwi cousins, and was thrilled to join my colleague for the three hour flight over the Tasman sea to Auckland. From Auckland airport we boarded a connecting flight to New Plymouth on a smaller [View Full Entry]

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Due to a fortunate happenstance I gained another chance to visit Japan through my job in Sydney. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise as I settled back into Sydney life after spending two years overseas. I was lucky to get a job in an oil exploration company thanks to a friend and it was a great feeling to get back on my feet financially after my travels. Life certainly takes many interesting twists and turns as the years roll by. My job in the company started in the print room but the manager asked if I would consider a job [View Full Entry]

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Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, a city full of culture and tradition, and blessed with magnificent architecture. This journal tells the intensely personal story of six months spent living in this glorious city, where despite the beauty of the surroundings the personal signs were ominous from the beginning. Leading on from the previous journal, I caught the ferry from Dover to Calais and then boarded a train on to Paris where I checked into a hostel in the heart of the city. I was young and adventurous which is a plus, but impulsive with a tendency not [View Full Entry]

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The thrill of returning home after spending 18 months overseas was almost overwhelming. Although I was only visiting Sydney for Christmas and the New Year before catching another flight to London, still I found catching up with family and friends even for a short time was so much fun. It was great simply being an Aussie again, nondescript and one of the crowd as opposed to standing out in a crowd which was the normal state of affairs while I was living in Japan. I went to a take away shop on the beach to be greeted with "Are you right?" [View Full Entry]

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This journal summarises travel highlights from the year 1987, which I spent living and working in Japan. The great Japanese adventure commences with my arrival in Shimononseki after a day and a night on the ferry which set sail from Pusan in South Korea. It was good to be back in Japan after spending three months here during 1986, and my cunning plan involved hitchhiking from Shimonoseki north to Tokyo with local truck drivers. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and a Japanese man at the terminal wrote Tokyo in kanji on a large cardboard sign which I [View Full Entry]

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The demilitarized zone forms the heavily guarded border between North and South Korea, and it is the most dangerous and volatile border in the world. In fact the DMZ is often referred to as the most dangerous place on earth. An uneasy truce prevails between the soldiers of the North and the South, who are assisted by 60,000 US troops. Although the Korean war ended in 1953 a peace treaty has never been signed and the official status of the two armies is still classified as a ceasefire. As you can imagine, this is a very serious hot spot in the [View Full Entry]

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The flight from Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport to Gimpo international in Seoul turned out to be a breeze, and all the terrifying things I heard about China Airways prior to the flight amounted to nothing in the end. On arrival I made my way to a hostel in downtown Seoul and checked in to commence a memorable week in the capital of South Korea. The city is blessed with great culture, superb food, high quality tailors at very affordable prices, exciting nightlife and incredibly beautiful women. What a combination, and to top it off I met a fantastic group of [View Full Entry]

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