Adelaide to Coober Pedy

It's probably about a thousand k's from Adelaide to Coober Pedy and when we looked back on the map we had barely made a dent in our planned drive. We stayed at places like Cradock, William Creek and Parachilna - isolated pub towns with populations less than 10.  Some cloud cover meant walking in the hills was reasonably safe and we encountered plenty of local wildlife both in the open and on our plate along the route.

Quorn



Cradock

Aboriginal caves at Yourambulla

Walking in the red dust

Wilpena Pound

Walk to St Mary's peak, Wilpena Pound

Rock Wallaby

Brachina gorge

Parachilna hotel

Leight Creek coal mine

Oodnadatta track

William Creek Pub

Otago Central Rail Trail

We had three glorious days of spring sunshine and, more importantly, tail winds on the Otago Central Rail Trail. We enjoyed the freedom of the track with no noise, no motorists and no helmets.  There's good character in Central Otago and the few folk we met along the way were good honest kiwis - the rail trail has had a very positive impact on the small farming towns in the area.  Sore bums and a good sleep to follow!  

The crew at our starting point in Alexandra:

Panoramic views on the trail:

The riders:

 Icons of railway days gone by:



Waimate walks

Waimate is charging ahead with some tremendous walking and cycling tracks.  At 31 years old I've finally made it to the White Horse monument overlooking Waimate - with Valmay, Gabrielle and Mum:

Dunedin

Nine years after graduating from Otago University, we returned to our old stomping ground.  Fresh memories triggered every few steps around the city and the campus (sites of old flats, parties and adventures).

Photos from St Clair beach and Otago v Canterbury at the very the impressive new indoor stadium.

And from the archives.  Graduation in 2003:

Bellagio

Last stop before flying back to New Zealand was Bellagio - a nice little town right in the groin of Lake Como.  The hair raising drive from Como to Bellagio was worth the experience at the end.  High quality gelato, a much needed haircut and a visit to the beautiful Villa Balbianello.

Bellagio:

Villa Balbianello:

(of Casino Royale fame)

Lake Carezza

Rifugio Puez

Our walk to Rifugio Puez and along to the Danterciepes gondola ranks as one of the best day walks we’ve done. Starting from at around 1500m, we blitzed through the early crowds in the valley and then sweated our way up the 1000m rocky climb to Puez. We were greated at the Rifugio by pasta, goulash soup, apple strudel and a pint of coke which fuelled the rest of our journey across the top of the cliffs to the Danterciepes gondola.

Sassolungo loop walk

The weather in the Dolomites has been very kind to us. On our first day here we knocked off a cracking loop walk at altitudes between 2000 and 2400m and had perfect visibility of the surrounding mountains above us for the whole day. Aging knees and a tight timetable for the chairlifts back down to our digs in Saint Christina meant we were against the clock all day. We were not helped by some dodgy directions but we made it to the lift with 15 minutes in hand and were safely in the company of a pint of beer shortly after.

Day trips from Venice

Villa Pisani:

Murano:

Burano: