Wilsons Promontory is named after Thomas Wilson, a merchant friend of Mathew Flinders, one of the early explorers of Australia's coastline. We spent a very pleasant few days in the National Park to do some bushwalking. The 'Prom' has had a series of disasters over recent years. In 2009, most of the park was burnt in a very extensive bushfire and masses of grey skeletons of trees are very obvious around the ...

Anzac Day 2013 is the 98th anniversary of the original landing by be the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day on which Australians commemorate the service of those who have served their country on Active Service. Remembrance Day, in November, on the other hand, is the day on which we remember those who gave their lives in combat in all wars. I have developed a fairly rou ...

We enjoyed a very pleasant few days last weekend in the Little town of Martinborough in the Wairarapa Region and in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. We stayed in the little town of Martinborough (about 90 minutes drive from Wellington) for two nights at this very nice boutique hotel. Martinborough is the centre of the wine growing area in the Wairarapa district and is noted for its Pinot Noir. I find ...

Now that I have been home from Antarctica for a few days, I have thad some time in which to sort out my photos (2983 of them) and select the best few to show in a public photo gallery. I have created four separate galleries in this post - 1. Ushuaia, 2 Falkland Islands, 3. South Georgia and 4. Antarctica. I have also gone back and added some other pictures to each of the original posts from my trip. The com ...

Having just spent hours on planes and in airports, I found this article from NBC News very interesting. Just remember it when next you fly!   Flying increases flatulence, according to an article published Friday in the peer-reviewed New Zealand Medical Journal, and passengers should release the gas -- or risk painful medical consequences.Lead author Dr. Jacob Rosenberg, professor of surgery at the Universit ...

Today has been our final day at sea. It's been another day of little wind, sunshine and smooth seas. We've been making good progress towards Ushuaia at 14 knots (about 20 km / hr) means that bee have made up too much time. In the afternoon we have slowed down to a little over 5 knots because we can't get tot the Beagle Chanel before 2.30 am as that is the time we have a contract to pick up our pilot.  Even ...

I'm taking the risk of writing tis in the middle of the day as I don't think that anything much is going to happen here for the rest of the day. We are now at sea on our return trip to Ushuaia with another day and a half of sailing. We are blessed with calm winds and the sea is dead flat. This is an interesting contrast to my previous trip where we had 8 metre waves as we crossed the same stretch of sea - t ...

Today was our last day in Antarctica. We were meant to be here for only two days, but because of the fog at Elephant Island, we have been able to fit in an extra day.  Our day started at 6.00 am with a wake-up cal as we entered the Lemaire Channel. This is a narrow waterway that stretches for about six nautical miles between the continental mainland and Booth Island. It is incredibly scenic with high mounta ...