Pah Homestead
Home to the Wallace Collection, one of the largest private art collection in New Zealand, the Pah Homestead is the perfect use for what was once one of the largest…
Tag: photography
Auckland Art Gallery
The second largest art gallery in the country after Te Papa in Wellington, Auckland Art Gallery is always an interesting place to visit. They rotate the exhibitions frequently so there’s…
Staying in a homestay
Increasingly popular, homestays are a great way to give directly back to local communities while traveling, and are always a memorable experience. Many of my recent trips have been with…
Mari Mari Cultural Village
Set up about nine years ago, Mari Mari Cultural Village is an evocative reminder of traditional Sabah culture, less than half an hour from Kota Kinabalu. It is also popular…
Sandakan and Gomantong Caves
The second largest city in Sabah, home to 400,000 people, Sandakan is basically a less attractive version of Kota Kinabalu. Similarly laid out on a narrow stretch of land between…
Kinabatangan River
The second longest river in Malaysia, the Kinabatangan River is a great place to see monkeys in the wild. Bilit Adventure Lodge is one of half dozen along the river,…
Sabah Tea Resort
The perfect spot to relax after summiting Mt Kinabalu, Sabah Tea Resort is a tranquil place near Ranau, in the foothills of the mountain. I stayed in one of two…
Mt Kinabalu
Mt Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Borneo, and the highest in South East Asia if you discount the Himalayan part of Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. It’s also one…
Around Mt Kinabalu
I spent a few days in the almost literal shadow of Mt Kinabalu, the highest peak in Borneo. A highlight was staying at a home stay in Tanak Nabula, a…
Kota Kinabalu
The capital of Malaysian Borneo, and gateway to the Sabah region, Kota Kinabalu is a relatively tidy South-East Asian city of half a million people which has enough to see…
New Zealand tramps (multi-day walks) ranked
In the past five and a half years since starting with the Routeburn Track, I’ve done 24 multi-day walks (known as tramps in New Zealand), including all of the Great…
Tableland Circuit
A great weekend walk, the Tableland Circuit offers some of the best views in Kahurangi National Park (also home to the better known Great Walk, the Heaphy Track) and some…
Barcelona
One of the most varied cities in Europe, Barcelona is blessed with beautiful buildings both old and new, huge amounts of culture, and a lengthy beach downtown. Unfortunately word got…
Bruges
One of my favourite European cities, Bruges is a wonderfully preserved snapshot of the Golden Period from the 12th to 15th centuries, when it was one of the most important…
Ghent
A day trip from Antwerp back in 2006, Ghent is a lesser known but very pleasant Belgium town, filled with huge churches and historic buildings, plus lots of bikes and…
Perth and Freemantle
My third post on Perth, after my third visit, which demonstrated how far the city has come since I visited in 2010 and 2017. The waterfront is now home to…
Margaret River and around
For foodies and wine lovers Margaret River is one of the best places in Australia, for a teetotaller visiting on a wet day the attraction is somewhat less. Thankfully there…
Albany and the South Coast
The oldest city in Western Australia, founded in 1828, Albany lost out to Perth to be the state capital and has struggled to recover since. It has a population of…
Esperance and the Stirling Ranges
Esperance is popular seaside town on the southern coast of Western Australia, one of the last major towns before the epically barren stretch through to South Australia. I visited it…
Cape Le Grand National Park
One tenth the size of Fitzgerald River National Park, but seemingly home to ten times the number of visitors (though this is Western Australia so still tiny numbers comparatively), Cape…