What do you get when you combine a rural Australian town and Spanish Benedictine monks? New Norcia. For it was here, 132 km (82 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia, that Spanish monks following The Rule of St Benedict founded a community which, to this day, continues to be Australia’s only monastic town. The anti-clerical … More Travel memories: New Norcia
The first time I visited Kuala Lumpur as a young child from Australia, having only heard the city’s name aurally, I was mystified as to why it it had been (in my thinking) named after a furry, grey, tree-dwelling marsupial native to my homeland. In somewhat of an anticlimax, it turns out ‘Kuala Lumpur’ is … More Travel memories: Things to see in Kuala Lumpur
I could have just stayed at the airport. After all, Changi Airport has been repeatedly voted among the world’s best, and it’s certainly one of the most impressive I have ever been to. With lush indoor & outdoor gardens (including a butterfly garden), a plethora of dining and shopping options, a movie theatre, hotels, a … More Travel memories: 2 nights in Singapore
‘T-Dot. It’s short for T dot O. As in Toronto, Ontario’, some Canadians had explained to me, having casually thrown the term around enough for me to finally ask in bewilderment what the heck they were on about (apparently this is now an outdated name, however. The cool kids these days refer to the city … More Travel memories: Things to see in Toronto
I had technically been to New York City before, my first visit being as a small child in the late ’80s. And while I am fortunate to be able to look back on priceless old photos of me standing in front of the World Trade Center twin towers, my memories of that trip are hazy … More Travel memories: My 6 days in New York City
For my first ever trip to Canada, I headed straight to its bilingual heart: Montreal, in Quebec Province. A unique corner of the world that doesn’t feel quite French, nor quite North American. It really is a fusion of the two cultures, evident in its language, food and architecture Read on to find out some … More Travel memories: What to see in Montreal
There is little I can write about this place that hasn’t already been written; it is a wonder of the world and no doubt figures high on most travellers’ bucket lists already. Discovered in 1911 by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham, the 15th-century Inca citadel is famed for its dramatic location, often enveloped in cloud, on … More Travel memories: Machu Picchu
It had been a long-time dream of mine to visit Peru’s Sacred Valley region, so it was with great excitement that I boarded the LAN plane at Lima’s shiny, modern airport for the 2-hour flight to the Inca capital. My Cusco travel dream was about to come true! Much of the journey heads over the … More Cusco travel memories
After an almost 15-hour non-stop flight over the South Pole (well, not directly but flights between Australia and South America do fly over the outer edges of Antarctica, and some of the ice is actually visible from the plane – see picture below), I was glad to finally land in Buenos Aires (literally ‘fair winds’ … More Travel memories: Buenos Aires
Beautiful, diverse Cape Town, a.k.a the Mother City. Where do I even start? I guess a good place would be with its iconic, almighty Table Mountain, since you pretty much cannot go anywhere in the city without being engulfed in its presence. Sometimes it is bold and bare for all to see, other times creeping … More Travel memories: Cape Town
