Outside Bilbo Baggins’ hobbit hole, Hobbiton. I’d held off visiting the preserved movie set of Hobbiton for two main reasons. One, at $79 for an adult it’s not exactly cheap. And two, New Zealand’s full of pleasant – let’s be honest, sometimes pleasantly dull – rolling farm country. Why pay for it when you can…
Tag: Eco-Travel
New Zealand’s First Great Luxury Hotel: Why Staying At The Chateau Is Still So Worth It
The Chateau in Tongariro National Park, central North Island. I’d always wanted to stay at The Chateau. As far as historic hotels go in New Zealand there are few so iconic. So with it being my birthday last week I decided to see what the 86-year old dame is like. And given the lakeside town…
Victoria: Walks On The Wild Side – My Herald On Sunday Road Trip Article To Victoria, Australia
The unique rock formations of the Great Ocean Road. This past weekend the Herald On Sunday published my feature about some of the things to do in Victoria (Australia) beyond just Melbourne. I’d spent a week driving all over the state being wined and dined (tough gig I know!), exploring national parks both lush and barren,…
Return To Nazri’s Place – Top 50 Photos From Malaysia’s Tioman Island, 2015
Nazri’s Place, Air Batang, Tioman Island. This time exactly two weeks ago I was in the middle of a sweat-drenched 10-kilometre walk on an island Time Magazine once described as one of the 10 most beautiful in the world. Sure, that title was bestowed back in the 70s and Malaysia’s Tioman Island has dined out…
Cruising The Backwaters Of Kerala In A Rice Boat – My Latest Let’s Travel Magazine Article, South India
The new issue of New Zealand’s premier travel magazine Let’s Travel includes an article of mine about an Intrepid Travel tour I did featuring India’s famous Kerala backwaters. Click here to link to Let’s Travel’s website, or find them on Facebook at Facebook.com/letstravelmag. The article is pay-walled so do subscribe or download the digital version….
Why Fiji’s Mango Bay Resort Was Just What I Wanted
A beachfront bure at Mango Bay Resort. Going to Fiji on a Monday and coming back on a Friday seemed like one of those half-baked, I-haven’t-had-enough-sleep ideas I was surely going to talk myself out of. And yet it progressively seemed less and less silly. There were soon-to-expire air-points to get me there, the cheap…
Waikato – Wai Not? Maungatautari & Hamilton Zoo 2014
An inquisitive chap / meerkat, Hamilton Zoo. This time a week ago I was relaxing in the living room of my B&B in Cambridge, New Zealand after a big day’s driving and walking. Cambridge is an affluent, extremely photogenic little town in New Zealand’s Waikato region. While it was primarily a visit to the hilly forest…
The World’s Largest Sand Island – Herald On Sunday Article To Queensland’s Fraser Island – 25 Favourite Photos
Here is the link to my latest Herald On Sunday travel article, published today and all about the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island in Queensland. Fraser Island is three times the size of Singapore and is dotted with freshwater lakes, covered in rainforest and home to Australia’s purest-bred dingo population. There’s also…
Tioman Island Malaysia – Why I Went Back 3 Years In A Row – Herald On Sunday Article From 2008
Tioman Island, Malaysia. With winter just a little over a month away here in the Southern Hemisphere, I’m thinking where might be nice to duck away for a couple of weeks of tropical sunshine. I’m determined to go somewhere different, but it’s amazing how Malaysia – the country I spent seven years as a kid –…
New Zealand’s Kauri Coast – Luxury Amidst Some Of The World’s Largest & Oldest Trees
Kauri from Trounson Forest, near Waipoua Forest. With seven years as a kid in Malaysia, the slightly odd pairing of a simultaneous love of jungle and skyscrapers almost seems in my DNA. Normally people love one and hate the other – I love both. That doesn’t mean I like stubby dumps like the 12-17 storey…
