As I mentioned in my last post, I was last weekend named as a finalist for travel photographer of the year by the Australian Society of Travel Writers (the prize was won by Rod Eime). The award is judged on a portfolio of three published images across a 12-month period. It seemed appropriate to run the three images together this week as my Friday Foto.
Last weekend the Australian Society of Travel Writers held its annual awards, and I was honoured to pick up two gongs: one for the best story about Australia (over 1000 words), and the other for the best international story (under 1000 words). I was also a finalist in two other categories, including travel photographer of the year. Continue reading
In a recent study, researchers at the University of Colorado found that camping has the ability to reset our body clocks. In dragging us away from the electric lights that so disrupt the natural order and cycle of daily life, camping isn’t just good for the soul, it also apparently recalibrates our sleep patterns. Continue reading
Between the Indian cities of Manali and Leh, a highway wriggles through the Himalayas. It travels for 500 kilometres, crossing five high passes, including some of the highest road passes in the world. It journeys from the monsoon-washed greenery of Himachal Pradesh to the high, stark desert of Ladakh, passing through terrain so gorgeously brutal that the road is usually open for just three or four months of the year. That time of year is now. Continue reading
In the Indian town of McLeod Ganj, above Dharamsala, you sense that you’re at the very edge of high drama. The mighty Himalayas rise beyond, and so many of its residents are here to escape persecution in Tibet. Tourists come for many reasons. Curiosity. Spirituality. A break in the eye of the travel storm that is India. A chance glimpse of the Dalai Lama at his home-in exile. A few, like me, come to hike. Continue reading
In my very first blog entry I wrote that this site wouldn’t be all about Everests. I even suggested it might never be about Everests. Yet here it is, looming above me; today I’m writing about Mt Everest. To bastardise the words of another, somewhat better scribbler however, I come not to praise Mt Everest, but to bury it. Continue reading
