A Traveller’s Eye, A Thinker’s Heart
I like to tell stories. I like to take photos.
And I like to share them. Enjoy.
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TEMPRANILLO ARGENTINE STYLE
I was out on a morning bushwalk when the ping of an incoming SMS drew me out of my forest trance. ‘Estoy llevando Tempranillo y voy a moler como a las 10.30’. It was my Argentine friend, Martin, and he had just received 600 kilos of Tempranillo grapes and was about to crush them. I…
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MARTIN KICKS OFF VINTAGE 2017
Vintage 2017 has started in the Adelaide Hills so I headed out to the vineyards to make sure my favourite bubbly, the Mordrelle Wines Blanc de Blancs, was being picked to perfection under the demanding eye of my compañero, Martin Moran. Martin and I played softball on the Hahndorf Men’s team for several years but…
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MY FRIEND LEVI
This is my friend Levi. He is perhaps the most outstanding young man I have ever met. He’s been visiting me once a month for more than two years now. He comes during the day with a colleague and knows I am busy at work so he never stays for long. Levi is soft spoken…
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WHATABOUTISM
For a number of weeks now as I’ve observed the political debate in the United States I’ve been searching for a certain term. A term used to describe a behaviour used by some in an argument to point out the opposing view’s hypocrisy. I found the term I was looking for: whatboutism or the UK’s…
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AUSSIES IN VIETNAM WAR
“Australia, they fought alongside us in wars including losing over 500 brave Australians in the Vietnam War, which some of us remember.” US Republican Senator John McCain, 2 February 2017. I appreciate that Senator McCain spoke out on behalf of Australia. Some of us might not have known that little fact he delivered in his…
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AMERICA FIRST
I was too young to comprehend John F. Kennedy’s inauguration address when it was delivered in 1961. But the words he delivered in that address resonated with me throughout my formative years. ‘Ask not what your country can do for you … ask what you can do for your country.’ They were poignant words of…
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CUSCO: THE FORGOTTEN JOURNAL
Our son, Xander, has left on a grand South America adventure which will take him to Brazil, Argentina and Peru. One of the highlights of the trip will be a seven-day trek along the Inca Trail. I told Xander about my own experiences in Cusco and Machu Picchu when I was about his age. And…
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JASMINE MEMORIES
Human beings have a remarkable ability to remember aromas. All of our senses can be connected with memories but perhaps none evoke nostalgia as much as smell. The olfactory bulb has easy access to a part of the brain known as the amygdala, which plays a role in evoking emotional memories. Yesterday I got a…
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ABOARD THE DELPHIN IN THE AMAZON
While a grad student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I took a course on tropical agriculture and studied under the great Amazonia scholar Dr William Deneven. I was mesmerised by his tales of the Amazon. And so was my classmate, Oliver Coomes, who decided to write his PhD dissertation on the riverine peasants – the…
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