Category: Travels for Fun
-
THE WALK HOME
My heart really races each time I come home from work. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. It’s not entirely because I know my sweetheart is awaiting me. I get a pretty good workout on my way home. I get off the train at Oberwinter and immediately get on a pathway to climb home to ‘Oberwinter Heights’. In a bit less than 300 metres I climb 66 metres. It is a super steep climb. I just put my head down and take a step at a time. I like to pretend I’m slowly and…
-
ESCAPE TO THE PENINNE ALPS
Winter in Bonn was getting a tad grey so Padma, Joseph and I packed up and headed to Switzerland for a white holiday. Along the way, we picked up one of Joe’s Aussie mates, Aidan. We found an isolated chalet via AirBnB on a dead-end road at 2,000 metres near the village of Arolla in the Peninne Alps. We were after snow and found it here high in the Alps. The road to our chalet was snowed in so we had to hike through the snow to find the front door.…
-
AN AUSSIE MEAT PIE TO SAY THANKS
I’ve been waiting 21 years to say ‘thank you’ to former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer. Today I got that chance and bought him an Aussie meat pie to show my gratitude. In 1996, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his deputy Tim Fischer acted swiftly and decisively to launch a gun buyback program. Twelve days before they launched the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program, Martin Bryant unpacked an arsenal of automatic weapons at the historic site of Port Arthur and massacred 35 people. It wasn’t a popular move…
-
THE WINE WALK
In December of 2013, Padma and I were eating snapper at the Sydney Fish Market while our mate, John Peacock, was going on and on and on and on about the fabulous wine walks which our mutual friends Marlene and Juergen Diekmann organised in the Rhinelands near Bonn. They sounded like fun but I never thought we’d ever be able to attend one. Fast forward to September 2017 and Padma and I joined the Diekmanns and a dozen other colleagues for a walk on the Rotweinwanderweg, the fabled Red Wine Trail…
-
THE BIKE RIDE TO WORK
I can’t wait to get up and go to work each day. I’ve clocked in three weeks on the new job and each morning and afternoon a most pleasant journey awaits me. My (temporary) furnished apartment came equipped with a bike. I restored some life to it as I needed a primary form of transport. It turns out the quickest way to get to work is by pedalling. In the morning I push the bike to the east and pedal for about three minutes through some quiet back streets and alleys…
-
I’M HOME, LUDWIG
Day 27. Tbilisi International Airport. There was some commotion at our guesthouse as Joe and I awaited our pre-arranged taxi shuttle to the airport at midnight. US Vice President Mike Pence was in Tbilisi for reasons no one seemed clear about and it was causing huge traffic delays. Our taxi would be 25 minutes late. Not a problem, said our guesthouse owner, Giga. He powered up his Prius SUV and packed us up. Along the way we picked up Ada, our friend from the Caucasus who in another uncanny coincidence was…
-
THE FATHER/SON ADVENTURE DRAWS TO A CLOSE
DAY 26. Tbilisi International Airport. There is nothing more important in my life than my wife and son. And nothing more valuable to me than having quality time with Padma and Joseph. Padma and I have had 24 years of quality time together but having quality time with Joseph has been elusive. It isn’t easy being a father. For 20 years Joseph has probably only known me as the mean old ogre who is always yelling at him to get out of bed, finish his homework or take out the rubbish.…
-
MADLOBA, GEORGIA
DAY 26. Tbilisi. Our last day in Georgia has been very special. Tiko invited us to her home and to meet her parents. This was special for Joseph as he could personally thank Tiko’s mother, Marian, who provided the motherly advice to help Joe overcome his bout with food poisoning. We were surprised to find Tiko’s 84-year-old father, Zarobi, at home. He is a maize breeder and refuses to retire. Every day he travels to the research centre to work in the fields to improve the maize hybrids that he has…
-
BATUMI
From the Greater Caucasus we travelled to the Black Sea. Joseph was keen to hear some good music during the Black Sea Jazz Festival but due to our fluid, i.e. always changing, plans by the time we got around to booking all of the performances were sold out. But we wanted to check out Batumi anyway and get a taste of the Black Sea. Batumi is Georgia’s primary sea resort but it was never intended to be. For much of its history it has been an important shipping port, while Georgia’s…
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.