Moving on from Buddhism and monasteries, arrival at Everest Base Camp was the other attraction heavily anticipated, and it didn't disappoint. Having watched the movie "Everest" only a couple of weeks before commencing this trip, I decided I didn't have a death wish so had well and truly crossed climbing to the summit off my bucket list, but checking out the mountain at close quarters was still on the list. As anticipated, as we approached the Everest region the altitude got higher and the countryside became even more desolate, with pretty much no vegetation of any sort. From Shigatse, we drove around 220kms along the Friendship Highway before taking a side access road required to reach the Everest Base Camp. On this access road, we crossed both the Gyatso and Pang passes, each of which were ... read more

While our drive from Lhasa to Gyantse was a mere 260kms, it took most of the day for a number of reasons – namely a number of photo stops, a diversion or two, some winding roads, a lunch stop, and the crazy speed restrictions for tourist minibuses on the Friendship Highway, something about which I shall comment more in my final blog. Our first stop was indeed one of the highlights for all the keen photographers. Soon after a significant climb of over 1,000 metres to the 4,700m Khamba Pass, we got a great view of Yamdrok Lake, one of the four main holy lakes in Tibetan Buddhism. The lake is shaped like a coiling scorpion, doubling back on itself so that it appears to have a huge island in the middle, but this area is ... read more

So here I am on the road again, this time in transit at Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in China, en route to a fortnight’s travels in Tibet. While it was a transit stop, there were some interesting sights to take in, so a group of us that were to do the Tibet trip had arranged to meet up here a couple of days earlier to get to know each other and start to get acclimatised to the high altitudes we would encounter in Tibet. Highlight of the visit was no doubt the half day visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, just to the north of the huge city with a population of a mere 16 million. This ecological conservation base occupies an area of around 100 hectares, which are dedicated to ... read more

Our first journey this time, to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary, was an Alaskan cruise and a visit to the Canadian Rockies, prior to visiting the grandkids on the US east coast. The first of these was a 7 day round trip from Vancouver on the Holland America vessel the 'Volendam', visiting each of Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay & Ketchikan. We arrived in Vancouver on the Wednesday morning after a 14 hour direct flight from Sydney, and found it easier to commute direct with our baggage to the cruise ship, rather than making our own way across the city. What we didn't realise was that once we were on the ship, we had passed through US immigration and were thus unable to go back off the ship and explore Vancouver. This wasn't a huge hassle as ... read more

Having now travelled most of the world, I thought it was time to visit one of the iconic regions in my own backyard that has so far eluded me, the Kimberley region of northern West Australia. While independent travel is normally our strong preference, Joan and I opted to join a tour group due a) the requirement for a 4WD vehicle and b) the hassle of trying to line up scarce accommodation at different stops each night. So we joined up with a 9 day APT tour, called 'El Questro, Gorges & Purnululu'. As it turned out, it was a good call - the tour comprised 18 pax, all of similar age to ourselves, with no whingers, no loudmouths (except me!) and a good compatability between all. Further, the bus was comfortable, the accommodation and food ... read more