travelling allrite

Looking back across 2017 I'm surprised by how much travel I actually did. January: Singapore and Japan If I was to single out one word for my trips this year it would be snow . Though I've been to the snow before, this trip was the first time I'd really  experienced snow. We started with a week in the tropical heat of Singapore before flying to Osaka and travelling through snow covered Honshu and Sapporo. My highlight was a night in the inland Tohoku samurai town of Kakunodate before taking the local Akita Nairiku Jukan train north through the white countryside. More details March: Jurassic Park in Melbourne From three weeks overseas to a weekend in Melbourne as we drove down to attend a live concert of Jurassic Park with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. School and work meant we had to be back by Monday! More details April: Central Queensland Unable to make my sister's wedding in Rockhampton, whose airport was closed by flooding, ...

Only a short stay in Jindabyne and it is time to head home. We ate our hot breakfast and set off back to Sydney along the sparse grasslands of the Monaro, sadly following the abandoned train tracks from Cooma to Canberra. What a beautiful journey that would have been. Alex asked to visited the amazing playground at the National Arboretum overlooking Canberra. He climbed his way through the giant gumnuts with all the other kids at this popular venue, then we ate lunch inside the centre. We walked through the National Bonsai and Pengji Collection adjacent to the centre, marvelling at the tiny scenes created by each tree. But Alex was in a hurry to return to the gift shop. He had spotted kids flying kites on the Arboretum lawns and wanted to purchase one for himself. So he guided the rainbow streamers through the bright blue sky as others flew similar purchases along with a pirate flag and an eagle, children and adults shouting and laughing together. On the hill b...

There must come a time when people learning to ski suddenly discover the exhilaration of weaving their way at speed down the slope and find a new addiction in their lives. At least that's what I suppose happens. After two hours of slipping and skidding, of trying to stay upright and not go too fast in the wrong direction I couldn't wait to get the frigging ski boots off. Same with the other two. Oh well, at least we've tried skiing once in our lives. Honestly, I don't want to go fast. You can keep your extreme sports, I'll stick to extremely boring. Don't believe me? Why do you think we were skiing anyway? We'd already decided to drive to Jindabyne. What to do but catch Australia's highest altitude train line, the Skitube? When looking up how to catch it I just so happened to find that ski lesson packages were still available on the weekend. After feeling a bit left out during our winter trip to Japan we thought we might as well give it ...

From the hot sun  and beaches of Botany Bay to the chill waters of Lake Jindabyne overlooked by snow capped mountains. Along the way we had lunch at Ikea in Canberra, sat behind slow cars and saw many police. Finding dinner in Jindabyne was difficult with almost everywhere booked out. Ended up with Thai takeaway hastily eaten in the cold outside. Tomorrow we head into the mountains.

It's nearing the time for the airport to sleep. Once I would dream of being inside that terminal, excited for the journey to begin. Now I would worry what the darkness hides. But earlier at the traveller's time I still felt the desire. Either way it is for nothing. I'm not flying anywhere. Just spending a night in our favourite hotel in a room overlooking the airport, the city and the smooth waters of Botany Bay. It is still the beginning of a journey. Tomorrow we head down to the snow. Driving.