World Travel

During the years I have traveled extensively around a large portion of the world, both for pleasure and for work contracts and it would be impossible to guess the number of different Hotels stayed in, the flights taken or the nights spent away from home, but it would be many and all of different grades and standards! From airlines that the floorboards lifted up in, to bum boats on the Mandalay River, grand suites in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, to China and witnessing the Tienanmen Square demonstrations, the travels have certainly been an experience.
The other great blessing in traveling and seeing the world is of course, the people you meet. There are many, many people who spring to mind, from Alex in Brisbane and Shirley in NZ, both passed on now, to my cooking buddy Steve in Cairns, my diving buddy Chris in Bali, Alan and Teresa met in Goa, to my friend Eric in the USA from Frankfurt days, to Vivek and Abhijeet in India, Peter, Damien, Doris, Aman, Waughan and Hans, all expatriates in India, and so the list goes on. Many have been lost to time, but the memories still remain. Slowly the photographs of all those trips and all those places seen are being uploaded on this site – just for fun and the wish that you will see the photos and then decide to visit these places for yourselves! I started traveling very early on starting as we followed my father around in his quest for work as a carpenter and then having his own business. By sixteen I was living out, by seventeen I had left my home city – or the one that I regard as such anyway, – and then by twenty-one I had left my first country of New Zealand for life abroad. I met Marg in Australia and we had more than 28 years together before she passed on in 2006 and she was my constant travel companion over the years. Marg had taken language study school trips across to Europe and then to Switzerland for au pair working before finally heading to Australia for a working holiday. Actually, she wanted to get to NZ, but stopped in Australia first and liked the place so much she decided to stay! We met when we both started working at the same hotel in Brisbane, and the rest is history as they say!

I am always thankful that I saw most of my own country before leaving and have some great memories of the people I met and the places encountered during those travels. These days it is not so easy putting out the thumb and cadging a lift which I was then doing, while the tremendous hospitality I encountered is now more tempered as well. While I was still hitchhiking and motorbiking around New Zealand, Marg was cruising the Australian continent in an open sports car but unfortunately Marg is not here anymore to take part in the travels. I still need to get to the Scandinavian countries, Russia and Cuba and then there is Canada, the west coast of South America and the Caribbean still to see. Left is pictured the Great Wall of China

We have eaten tapas in Spain, pizza in Italy, croissants in France (not actually the birth place of croissants, but more famous for them!), great barbecued beef in Brazil, chillies in wonderful creations in Mexico, drunk Scotch whisky in Scotland, Scrumpi in England, tunneled into the Pyramids, floated on the Dead sea, explored the ancient city of Petra, been in tunnels in Vietnam, cooked on the Great Wall, eaten Sushi in Japan, Creole in Louisiana and seafood on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and then kissed both the Blarney Stone and the Wailing Wall in Davids city! Marg and I visited and ate in many places around the world with some being holidays and others being work postings. Pictured left is the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

I am in India where we first came on holiday in 1995 and then with work a year later, and now thirteen years later still stuck here. A land of contrasts from the hills of the Himalayas to the desert plains of Rajasthan, we have managed to see some of it, but I must admit I am tired out from Indian tourism and will confine myself mainly to overseas trips from now on. But I have made some tremendous friends here, plenty of great acquaintances and can say that over all the positives far outweigh the negatives in living here. Web pages included here are from our trips around India, as in Kerala and Cochin in replacement of our safari trip canceled, another one to Mysore and the Palace – a quite spectacular place to visit a few hours drive outside Bangalore. Plus there are a lot from Chennai, Bombay, New Delhi and Calcutta, so quite a good perspective on a good part of India.

Over the years I have always gone back to New Zealand for visits – mostly on holidays, some for visas and some also for the family tragedies that happened. It was a number of years after we met that Marg and I went over to visit family as a couple, and then trips after were to mainly visit my mother until her death in 2004. While I was born in New Zealand and have Australian citizenship, I am not resident in either country but who knows, one day I may end up back there. Getting more and more tempting these days! It is always nice to know that I can go back to either country and live easily if needed. There are some great pages on New Zealand on this site, plus Australia from when we traveled a bit a few years ago. Mostly we were and I still am an Asian orientated person, feeling quite at home here in the various countries and while I enjoy my countries, it is the excitement, the closeness and the life of Asia that keeps drawing me back! Picture left is from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand

Thailand was one of the first Asian countries we visited with a stop there on our way to Germany and work and it has become a favourite over the years. Singapore and Indonesia were both countries we stayed in for work contracts and while there also went traveling around the neighbouring countries, like Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Macau. June 2003 saw us in Sri Lanka where we managed to have a good around the island during this break in the fighting and Marg and I both very much liked that troubles island. Some of the trips are posted on this site already but most are still waiting for that time factor, so I shall endeavour to make steady progress and get these images uploaded as soon as I can over time. Pictured left is a top ten world beach called Unwatuna located near Galle in south Sri Lanka

In June 2005 I finally had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and principally the Angkor Wat complex! A tremendous place and along with Phnom Penh it was a great trip! Vietnam was somewhere else I had always wanted to go to, except when I was a soldier in my younger days, and this I did late in 2005 visiting both north and south of the country and the photos from this trip are now uploaded on this site. I am still to visit the Philippines and Laos along with Nepal and Tibet, but most of the area is now visited. Marg and I traveled into Burma as well on one of our earlier trips and we had a good look around there as well. Pictured left is from Angkor Wat

Dubai has been visited a couple of times now along with Egypt, Israel and Jordan where we mainly saw Petra which was spectacular! I have a friend who has visited Libya and some of the battlefields of the Second World War, so I would love to follow his footsteps one day in this. One trip I always will appreciate is the last one taken with Marg when we went to Italy, Hungary and Turkey. Gallipoli was visited as my Mum was a staunch believer of the ANZAC parades each 25th April – her birthday – and the only year I was with her for her birthday was the day after arriving in NZ, so I did not attend. Visiting Gallipoli was a sort of penance for me. Next on the list would be Morocco, a very romantic place for me, probably based on the movie Casablanca, but in reality it may be different I am sure.

Marg and I have also traveled to the States and Hawaii on a round the world trip in 1991 after leaving China and before starting work in Bali. We had two months or more off and visited the southern states with New Orleans being special for us, and then onto Mexico City and Brazil where I was always sorry that time did not allow us to go up into the rain forest. We did get to a place called Maceo though, which is actually quite close. From there we went across to Europe where we spent a few more weeks before heading back to Bali. Most of Western Europe has been visited in the travels, including Spain, Greece, Portugal, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and so on and some of the eastern countries now like Hungary and Romania, but still a lot more to go. One of the highlights of our trips was going through Romania while it was still under Communist rule – an interesting time with some stories to tell later regarding that trip!

Finally and into South Africa to see a little bit of that part of the world. This trip was taken a couple of years ago in 2007 and took in Johannesburg and Cape Town, plus Kruger and a couple of private game parks. An excellent trip and highly recommended to go and visit! We dropped in to Mozambique, stayed a few in Zimbabwe near Victoria Falls, that we saw both from then air and from the paths and into Zambia before heading to Botswana the famous Chobe National Park. The pages on this site are placed as an interest of mine and to tell a little of the travels, plus also to pique your own interest and gets you onto a plane, into a boat, on a bus or a rickshaw and to go and see some of this great world of ours! It really is a beautiful place and worth seeing and appreciating plus also seeing how we can conserve it and sustain it so our children and children’s children can also see the tigers and the elephants while admiring the great scenery from each country!