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Mogsie's Wanderings

Caledonia's Calling . . .

CANADA | Wednesday, 24 Jun 2009 | Views [490]

From Victoria I caught a bus up to Swartz Bay and took the ferry across to Salt Spring Island to visit Claire, who I'd first met with her friend Joy way back in Australia when we'd all shared many a laugh together while in Broome. I'd not managed to ... Read more >


Hello Uncle Sam

USA | Friday, 5 Jun 2009 | Views [565]

After a slightly bumpy but otherwise reasonable flight north I landed and was "de-planed" (the announcers annoying phrase not mine!) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, early in the morning. With the day to wait before my onward connection I tried ... Read more >


No Sign of Paddington

PERU | Monday, 25 May 2009 | Views [1030]

I could hardly believe that my arrival in Puno, in Peru, heralded my last country in South America and my seventeenth country of this trip! It wasn´t a particularly inspiring town but it did allow me to go out to visit some more of the islands on Lake ... Read more >


Living the High Life

BOLIVIA | Monday, 11 May 2009 | Views [605]

San Pedro was, I suppose, a characterful litle town but it was also a bit of a tourist trap so I wasn´t too disappointed to leave it behind and set out on a three day trip across the desert and saltpans of Bolivia to the town of Uyuni. Seventeen of us ... Read more >


Bodegas and Gauchos

ARGENTINA | Thursday, 30 Apr 2009 | Views [577]

It was another long bus journey to reach Mendoza but finally, after having left the semitropical north behind and passed through farming country I arrived in the semi-arid area in which the city sits. I found a busy city with a large central square which ... Read more >


All Roads North

ARGENTINA | Tuesday, 21 Apr 2009 | Views [595]

If it had been a super-fast ralley run South to Ushuaia it was completely the opposite as I headed North. The journey seemed incredibly slow across Tierra del Fuego with everything seeming to overtake us. Even the border crossings back into Chile, although ... Read more >


Going to the Ends of the Earth

ARGENTINA | Tuesday, 7 Apr 2009 | Views [632]

The scenery on the trip across the border to Argentina was beautiful. In Chile there were many little lakes, grazing cattle, horse riding farmers and a spectacularly colourful clothes market in the otherwise drab and run-down looking Orsorno. Street ... Read more >


Travelling in Time

CHILE | Friday, 20 Mar 2009 | Views [383]

My 12th of March was surely as one of the longest days possible - lasting 40 hours in total. After boarding my flight in Auckland (for once in my life without extra security checks, hallelujah!) We flew for about 11.5hrs before landing about 4.5hrs before ... Read more >


Closing Encounters of the Kiwi Kind

NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 12 Mar 2009 | Views [695]

I had to get up for a rediculously early ferry crossing back to the North Island because with my time quickly running out in New Zealand I knew I'd have a real whistlestop tour if I was to fit in everything I still wanted to see and do there. Needless ... Read more >


My Foxtrot to Hogwartz

NEW ZEALAND | Saturday, 28 Feb 2009 | Views [668]

Waving  farewell to Punakaiki I travelled down to Franz Josef, the home town, though town is maybe stretching the point a little, for one of the famous glaciers which come down from the Southern Alps through the temperate rainforest to almost reach the ... Read more >


Mrs Mop Goes to Punakaiki

NEW ZEALAND | Sunday, 8 Feb 2009 | Views [683]

The two weeks I spent in Punakaiki passed really quickly. I was working at Te Nikau Retreat, as part of a group of 4 or 5 "wwoofers" (originally an anacronym for Willing Workers on Organic Farms, the term is now used for most exchange workers) cleaning ... Read more >


New Year, New Island

NEW ZEALAND | Friday, 23 Jan 2009 | Views [573]

It was probably just as well it was a quiet hogmanay as it was bad enough having to get up on New Year's morning for a 7am shuttle to the ferry across to the South Island as it was. It was also quite windy so I anticipated a stormy crossing. However, ... Read more >


Kia Ora Aotearoa

NEW ZEALAND | Wednesday, 31 Dec 2008 | Views [1522]

I don't know whether I have a guilty face or an innocent face, but you can almost guarantee I'll get stopped for additional security checks at an airport. Leaving Australia was no exception: first of all I got selected for additional explosives screening ... Read more >


Not Quite the Full Circle

AUSTRALIA | Thursday, 4 Dec 2008 | Views [1039]

I arrived in Sydney delighted to be back in a city that I love. I feel I know it reasonably well now so knew there were some obvious landmarks I wanted to visit, but also happy just to amble about taking in the views and the atmosphere of the place. ... Read more >


ACT Quickly

AUSTRALIA | Monday, 24 Nov 2008 | Views [523]

I arrived in the Australian Capital Territory for a short visit on a cold and wet morning. I was intrigued to find out what I'd make of Canberra having heard very mixed stories about the place. By the time I left again I could see why opinion is divided ... Read more >


The Victorian Days

AUSTRALIA | Saturday, 22 Nov 2008 | Views [675]

Overnight we crossed into Victoria and the bus pulled into Melbourne's Southern Cross station early in the morning. Heading outside there still wasn't much sign of activity or orientation information available. After tracking down a map, however, I got ... Read more >


The Long Straight

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 11 Nov 2008 | Views [631]

I was looking forward to having another long train journey and seeing how it compared to the trans-siberian - the trip to Adelaide would take about 42hours. As I got checked in I could see that Australia could learn a lot from the Russians - the terminal ... Read more >


Shiver My Timbers

AUSTRALIA | Wednesday, 5 Nov 2008 | Views [1083]

Perth was cold. Well, maybe that's not strictly true, but at just 20-22 degrees it was much colder than I've become used to and I had to dig out my long trousers and fleece! Goodness knows what I'd need if I came home right now - I've become such a softy ... Read more >


Life's a Beach

AUSTRALIA | Saturday, 25 Oct 2008 | Views [639]

It had rained heavily for much of the night, but by the time we rolled into Broome at breakfast time the sun was back out and the temperatures were back up to my now customary (and expected) 30+degrees. I headed out to explore the town and landed at ... Read more >


Into The Red

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 7 Oct 2008 | Views [780]

I bade farewell to Airlie Beach at 2.15am and spent the next 31 hours travelling to the red centre of Australia. The bus is perfectly comfy and all the drivers I've had have been great but 30+ hours on a bus is nowhere near as much fun as 30+ hours on a ... Read more >


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