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MONA
Ever since it opened there’s been a lot of hype about MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. I guess a lot of it has to do with the story of how it came to be, as the passion/play-thing of David Walsh...
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Totally Wired
“It’s a by-product of the NBN”, I was told by the woman running Lime Designs, an arts/crafts gift store at Salamanca Place. When I asked her what she was weaving the small basket with, she told me she...
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Travel Thoughts
Once again my thoughts have turned to travel. I think it’s the end of daylight saving that’s brought it on. Whereas last week I was still arriving home in daylight, it’s now well and truly dark by the...
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Weekend Away
I spent the weekend with friends at a wedding at Robertson in the NSW Southern Highlands. We stayed in The Old Chapel at Burrawang, closeby. Great company. Great conversations. A fantastic wedding full...
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China – Beijing Blog
At first I thought I thought it was a simple check of the numbers. But when I saw virtually every flight attendant walking up and down the aisles with clicker counters I became curious and then...
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China – Back in China
“When we’re old”, I said to Sue, “I think we should move to Beijing and just hang out in the park”. Sue laughed in agreement, as we made our way out of the Temple Of Heaven. The last time I was in...
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China – Group Tour
Sue and I went out for a meal tonight at a nearby Chinese restaurant where the food was a little more spicy than what we’ve been experiencing over the last couple of days. I like spicy food, I like...
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China – Day of Contrasts
Today was a definitely a day of contrasts. We started the day off at a medical clinic where we learned a little about the principles of Chinese Medicine. Minutes later, a group of doctors and medical...
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China – Surprises
I never thought I’d ever find much interest in silk embroidery images of the Mona Lisa and Chairman Mao, but somehow today I did. We’re spending the night in Suzhou, the silk capital of China...
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China – Shopping Day
Partly by design, and partly by chance, this ended up as a “shopping day”. The planned part was a visit to a “silk worm factory” in Suzhou. And when I say “factory”, I really mean showroom. The...
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China – Shopping and Travel
Earlier in the trip I wrote about how the “shopping parts” of the tour were the ones most likely to divide the men and the women of our group, including the jade factory, the silk factory, and the...
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China – Tea Plantation
I learned more today about green tea than I have my entire life. Our day started with a visit to a nearby village of Mei Jia Wu, where they seem to grow nothing but tea. Amongst the things I learned...
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China – Shanghai
There was a moment today when the guy sitting behind me, Paul, said “You know I think I wouldn’t mind living in Shanghai for a year of two”. Without hesitation, I told him I’d thought the same thing...
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Nexus Holidays China Sampler
BACKGROUND: When my friend Sue first spotted the “Nexus Holidays China Sampler” late last year, we both thought it sounded “too good to be true”. For about the cost of a return flight from Sydney to...
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Visiting Australia
I received a message the other day from a bloke from Sweden called Mattias. Over the last year or so, he and I have corresponded via Google+. He told me he and his wife were planning to visit Australia...
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Toasted Sandwich on the Menu
At one of the entrances to Monster, a restaurant/bar in Canberra, there’s a row of bicycles. For a brief second I wondered if they might have been the bicycles used by the staff to get to and from the...
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National Portrait Gallery
One of the really great things about the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra is that you already “know” so many of the people. And as you already come to the works with feelings about the...
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The Vinyl Lounge
As I entered the room (a few minutes late) they were playing some early-70s rock music from Rod Argent. Shortly afterwards, they played some Captain Beefheart. “Oh dear, this is not my kind of music”,...
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Parliament House – Canberra
A trip to Canberra is not complete without a trip to Parliament House. Like everyone else today, I marvelled at the architecture and the symbolism of the design. But I suspect I might have been the...
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Back Home
As I made way through the main park in the centre of Lismore, I saw a group of men sitting in the bandstand. “Hey brother, watch out for the magpie”, one of them yelled out to me. Having grown up with...
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