o frabjous day!

Category: Trips

  • Stuck in the mud

    On the Easter weekend, we went rural. Well, a little more rural than usual. We first headed to Mapleton, where we stayed with some friends, and took a little walk to visit the spot in the bush where they got married. I detoured from the path and got stuck in some mud. My walking shoes…

  • Off the grid

    We spent some time off the grid this weekend – staying at a friend’s place, where they live without mains power, hot water, phone lines, or much plumbing (say hello to the long drop dunny). It was nice and relaxing as a guest – after all, I wasn’t the one who had to boil hot…

  • Christmas time

    The plane bounced sharply a few times on our descent into Cairns, causing high pitched shrieks from the passengers. It was that sort of jolting that makes you gaze out the window (while clutching onto the seat in front of you) and contemplate the interesting fact that you’re hurtling through the air in a pointy…

  • Camping

    The weather was a little damp for camping this weekend, but we still had a lot of fun. I found a bees’ nest. And jammed on the ukulele. And read Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword. And when we got home, we found the biggest group of king parrots we’ve seen feeding on some…

  • AussieCon 4 – round up

    Last weekend I was in Melbourne, staying in my aunt’s apartment in the city, and catching the tram every day to go out to the 68th World Science Fiction Convention (or, because it’s the fourth one held in Australia, AussieCon 4). Highlights: seeing Catherynne Valente and Seanan McGuire on a panel “in conversation” – they’re…

  • On an island

    A few weeks ago, we went boating for my sister in law’s birthday – putting down the Pumicestone Passage and anchoring (ie. beaching the boats, and hurling the anchors onto the sand – does that count as anchoring?) on a little beach on Bribie Island. There was fishing: And a grand total catch of one…

  • Down by the sea

    We just spent a few days staying by the sea at Bargara, which is a small town near Bundaberg, about four or five hours drive away. We stayed in an apartment looking out onto the ocean, slept with the windows open to the sound of the waves, and spent a lot of time walking along…

  • The key of C – the people’s key

    The conclusion I reached after spending three days at the Cairns Ukulele Festival was this: ukulele players are lovely people. I reached a number of other conclusions, including “I need to learn how to play Don’t Worry Be Happy”, “I love conga lines” and “I need to buy a banjolele”. But the one about uke…

  • Cooinda, NT

    Excerpt from my travel diary – 29 June 2009, Kakadu We boarded the boat in the morning dimness, surrounded by hoardes of mozzies, and headed out onto the water to watch the sun rising in a blaze of colour across the horizon, lighting the still water. Wild horses grazed near the water’s edge, covered in…

  • Trip to Stanthorpe

    We drove to Stanthorpe for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend recently, staying in a tiny cabin in a camping ground, with a river running along the back of the property. Why can I never get horizons straight? Apparently I stand on angles when taking landscape shots. We climbed up a big rock (the Pyramid walk…