VIETNAM | Tuesday, 19 Mar 2024 | Views [85]
AS WE ASCENDED INTO THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS of Vietnam the quality of our lodging began to decline. We spent Saturday night at the Green Hotel in Khe Sanh, a step below our place in Phong Nha. When I mentioned we were near where for the first half of 1968, ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Sunday, 17 Mar 2024 | Views [86]
BY THE TIME ANDRE JOINED US for dinner on Friday in Phong Nha, we had already seen 27 species—eight new ones for Connie. While it never actually rained on Thursday, the dense fog and drizzle made photography difficult to impossible. Fortunately, ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Thursday, 14 Mar 2024 | Photo Gallery
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VIETNAM | Thursday, 14 Mar 2024 | Views [116]
WE SPENT THE NIGHT IN DONG HOI after traveling 170 kilometers from Hue. Booking a private car rather than taking a bus assured a timely arrival and gave us a chance to stop and stretch our legs along the way.
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VIETNAM | Tuesday, 12 Mar 2024 | Views [89]
WITH ITS ANCIENT FEEL, IT IS EASY to forget that Hue’s Imperial City isn’t a contemporary of Cambodia’s 9 th Century Angkor Wat or Sukhothai in Thailand. The country we know as Vietnam has existed only since 1802, when Gai Long—... Read more >
VIETNAM | Monday, 11 Mar 2024 | Views [86]
DESPITE THE PERSISTENT DRIZZLE we walked the three miles along the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda, part of the Complex of Hue Monuments. The term “pagoda” is confusing, as is much about this entire UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thien ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Sunday, 10 Mar 2024 | Views [95]
IT’S A LONG WAY FROM SYDNEY TO HUE—nine hours and 4300 miles through four time zones to Saigon another 600 miles to the Imperial City. Fewer than half of the A330’s seats were occupied on the Sydney-Saigon leg so we each had an entire ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Saturday, 9 Mar 2024 | Photo Gallery
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AUSTRALIA | Thursday, 7 Mar 2024 | Views [104]
AS WE CONTINUED OUR SEARCH for the elusive Rock Warbler on Wednesday, we were side-tracked not by the Three Sisters but by three Superb Lyrebirds scratching and pecking in the leaf litter along Cliff Walk Trail. We watched until an irate Kookaburra strafed ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 3 Mar 2024 | Views [113]
IT WAS NICE TO SLEEP IN A BED that wasn’t rocking after nearly three weeks afloat. Chiltern, our final AirBnB in Australia, is a charming cottage surrounded by lush gardens in the beautiful Blue Mountains of New South Wales. It’s spacious ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Friday, 1 Mar 2024 | Views [85]
THIS WAS OUR THIRD TIME IN HOBART—first in our campervan, the other on a cruise—so we felt justified in just running some errands instead of sightseeing. Connie has been trimming my hair every three weeks or so but her hair was in desperate ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Friday, 1 Mar 2024 | Photo Gallery
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AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 25 Feb 2024 | Views [93]
WE HAD AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE UPON LEAVING Sydney for Tasmania. The Captain of Majestic Princess had agreed to participate in an anti-pirate exercise with the Australian Navy. Since we had faced a possible pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden a couple ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Friday, 23 Feb 2024 | Photo Gallery
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FIJI | Tuesday, 20 Feb 2024 | Photo Gallery
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NEW CALEDONIA | Tuesday, 20 Feb 2024 | Views [94]
ISABELLE WAS WAITING AT THE PIER when Majestic Princess docked in Noumea. Even though we hadn't actually booked a trip with her company, Caledonia Birds, she took a chance that it was us by John’s outsized camera and Connie’s binoculars.... Read more >
VANUATU | Friday, 16 Feb 2024 | Views [235]
THE WIND PICKED UP ON FRIDAY EVENING and was blowing a gale by the time we arrived at the Majestic Princess. Circular Quay is a refreshing change from the commercial ports where cruise ships often dock and we spent the afternoon watching as ferries ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Saturday, 10 Feb 2024 | Views [264]
THE BEST PLACES TO STAY AREN’T ALWAYS at the beach. Tim’s AirBnB in the bush-town of Wandandian is idyllic; green fields, towering eucalyptus, chickens, horses—even Soxy, the affectionate English Chocolate Lab. I wish every host put ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Monday, 5 Feb 2024 | Views [321]
BATEMAN’S BAY IS ABOUT HALFWAY BETWEEN Mallacoota and Sydney. It also happens to be about the only place along the South Coast with halfway affordable lodging at this time of year. Our AirBnB is a bit shabby but works as a base for exploring South ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Thursday, 1 Feb 2024 | Views [249]
SOMEONE FOLLOWING OUR ZIG-ZAG ROUTE might think we suffer from terminal Attention Deficit Disorder. Yes, it would have made more sense to come directly from Bairnsdale to Mallacoota near the Victoria-NSW border. But Mallacoota is a popular holiday destination ... Read more >
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