Year: 2023

We are in this beautifully named bay of New Britain, the largest island in the Archipelago. Little dugout canoes manned by boys come out curious to meet us. Our morning is spent in the Malakur Elementary school.The village has some 2000 inhabitants. We were welcomed with a Sing Sing and local dances. The pupils also…

The day starts with some snorkelling off Greater Pigeon Island. A calm sea and good visibility and a colourful reef, blue and purple being my favourites, not only in the coral but also the starfish and many lively fish- Also sadly some crown of thorn starfish and destroyed coral beds. The afternoon we sail into…

Flying over the Great Barrier Reef I see swirls of turquoise around atolls before they turned to blankets of green as we approached Kavieng the capital of the PNG province of New Ireland. While waiting to join the boat I walk along the beach – covered with broken coral, seed pods and the most beautiful…

An interesting and steamy start to the journey. Cairns for the evening. Standout moments are the walk along the esplanade. Many birds in the mud flats. We saw white faced heron, bandied plovers, godwit and pelicans. The amazing Cannon Ball Tree along the Esplanade. Chowder and hot chips at Splash with Robyn and Paul.

Its a real treat to share Sculptures by the Sea with Nick. We came up to Sydney and spent the day admiring the lovely sculptures and hearing some artists talk about their works. There are 105 artworks created by 112 artists, from 21 countries including Australia, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Iceland, India,…

On the 31st of October 2023 children in Australia and many countries around the world will be setting out for a night of trick or treating for Halloween. A night traditionally given to ghouls and ghosts. On the same night ghouls – we can only call them that – will make ghosts of many children.…

Lets move our glance from up high to straight ahead. Trunks support branches and blooms, spiders, bees, insects and birds nests. The hues of eucalypt trunks. Good supports always lead to better outcomes – to put it differently. You never know what might be popping out to say hi.

A mix and match of reasons to be cheerful – because honestly listening to the news these days there aren’t many- Vegemite is 100 ! While we may all be Marmite lovers in this family we cannot underestimate the Aussie achievement of going one better or one equal to the great brand. They have expanded…

The city is bloomin’ wonderful. Everywhere I turn I find splashes of purple, yellow, red and fiery orange which are just a delight. Walking in the park I look up to see this tree in full bloom half captured in the light. I have retrieved my pots – here they are ! Thank you Nick.…