"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." RLS
Having just walked up Mt Painter and soaked up the stunning views there-from I decided to walk up to The Pinnacle in the nearby Pinnacle Nature Reserve which I had heard offered equally good views. Continue reading “The Pinnacle – Disappointment Turns to Pleasure”
Canberra, Australia’s bush capital, is very blessed when it comes to beautiful ‘rural walks within the city’. Of all these walks the short walk to the top of Mt Painter has, for my money, the best ‘views to effort ratio’. Continue reading “Mt Painter Walk– Short and Sweet”
The Hall Market is held on the showgrounds in Hall village, approximately 10 kms from the centre of Canberra. Markets are open 10am to 3pm on the first Sunday of each month, excluding January. Continue reading “Hall Market”
I have to admit being a little sceptical about this one. I didn’t actually visit it till I was over ten years in Canberra. Why was I sceptical? Well, I expected it to be a poorly maintained, worn out, overpriced and over hyped mixture of things that I wouldn’t be able to recognise. Continue reading “Cockington Green – Visit the World in a Day”
Located on the middle of the roundabout at the intersection of Ceon Steytier Ave and Heerengracht Street, Cape Town is a statue, erected in 1960, of Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese nobleman and sailor, who was the first European recorded to have rounded the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488. Continue reading “Bartholmeu Dias Rounds the Cape”
Prior to embarking the RMS St Helena for my trip to St Helena and Ascension Island I spent some days in Cape Town. Cape Town, or the Mother City, has got to have one of the world’s most beautiful settings, sitting as it does in the shadow of Table Mountain hemmed in by it and a rugged coastline of stunningly beautiful beaches.
Notwithstanding how much I loved this South African gem I have, to date, written very little about my time there. Please see this and one other linked review as work in progress!
Bo-Kaap Museum
A visit to the small Bo-Kaap museum (entrance pictured above) is aimed at helping put the Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town into perspective. Continue reading “Bo-Kaap Museum and Streets”
If you make it to the Balranald area of New South Wales, Australia, you will have invariably driven a significant distance and still have quite a bit to go. Distances from Balranald to:
Brisbane: 1,450km
Sydney: 800km
Melbourne: 390km
Adelaide: 600km
Canberra: 600kms. Continue reading “Take A Rest Between Hell And Balranald”
Hells Gate is the entrance to a 13,000 hectares farming property on the flat Hay Plain in outback New South Wales. It lies between Hay and Balranald on a featureless stretch of saltbush, which is generally accepted to be the flattest region on earth. Continue reading “I’ve Been To Hell And Back, Many Times”
For many years now, if I arrived into Balranald ( located about half way between Sydney and Adelaide – 600km from Adelaide and 800km from Sydney) around lunch time on my annual drive from Canberra to Adelaide, as I invariably did, I had lunch at the excellent Balranald Bakery (separate review). I have a particular soft spot for their apple slice.
A couple of years ago (in 2014) I noticed that another café had opened next door. In 2016 I decided to forgo my stop – and my apple slice – at the bakery and try Café Cassero which doubles as a gift shop offering lots of ‘stuff’ that didn’t appeal to me. But I was here to find something for lunch.
The small town of Balranald, approximately 1,000 inhabitants, lies in the west of New South Wales and is pretty much half way between Sydney and Adelaide, in South Australia.
As I only stop here for lunch, etc en route to Adelaide or back to Canberra (where I live) I have very little content on it to add to my blog at present. Continue reading “Balranald Bakery and Cafe: “Fresh Bread In The Outback””
The Rambling Wombat 