The gifts we give: Reflections on presents and presence

December 11, 2013 in North America, Travelogue, United States

This time last year we were in Borneo. Orangutans, jungle walks and old head-hunter skulls for Christmas. We rented this house on stilts in Miri, on the border with Brunei, […]

On grumpy elf & ironing

December 9, 2013 in North America, Travelogue, United States

Perhaps the hardest thing about this friends and family tour through the midwestern United States is the pace. Eighteen sets of loved ones hugged tight within the past three and […]

Of fog, family and familiar things

December 3, 2013 in North America, Travelogue, United States

I-94 around Chicago is shrouded in fog. Not the pea soup kind that makes for white knuckle driving. This is the misty, ghostly kind through which leafless black trees reach […]

I am cold: And other news from the Canadian Rockies

November 26, 2013 in Canada, North America, Travelogue

The Canadian Rockies are spectacular. The bony plates along the spines of sleeping dragons, frozen in place under Jack Frost’s spell, curled head to tail in a pile of jagged […]

Notes from BC: Four days was not enough

November 19, 2013 in Canada, North America

The islands off of the northeast coast of Vancouver Island are not well traveled. A double handful of people live on the little dots of land that honeycomb the inlets […]

Re-Entry is kickin’ our butts: Or, the shortest post in the history of this blog

November 15, 2013 in Canada, North America, Travelogue

Re-entry is officially kicking our butts. We’ve been on terra firma in North America for about 63 hours now, following the worst red-eye flight ever. Here is the short version: […]

Pearl Harbour: Lest We Forget

November 7, 2013 in North America, United States

The USS Arizona is still weeping. Great viscous tears of pitch coloured oil, leaking from deep inside her war torn sides with agonizing reluctance. As if she still can’t quite […]

Goodbye Australia: Top 10

November 5, 2013 in Australia, Oceania

And just like that, it’s over. Australia has sung to us, from the fading notes of La Traviata in the Sydney Opera House, to the low hum of an Outback […]

Great Barrier Reef: Photo essay

November 2, 2013 in Australia, Oceania, Travelogue

They’re not kidding, it is a GREAT barrier reef.  

Worst hotel award goes to…

November 2, 2013 in Australia, Oceania, Travelogue

We’ve stayed in a lot of jive places. We’ve even enjoyed most of them.  There’s often charm to bamboo floors with cracks between and glimpses of water beneath your feet, […]