A guide for independent, budget-savvy travellers The Great Ocean Road is one sight you won’t want to miss if you’re visiting Melbourne or Australia’s southern coast. The wild, ice-blue waters of the Southern Ocean smash against spectacular high cliffs, forming dramatic and beautiful features like the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. Australia is a […]
Kayangan Lake is on Coron Island, a short boat journey across the bay from Coron Town. There are so many beautiful natural sights around Coron, but Kayangan Lake is arguably the most famous, along with the Twin Lagoons. Kayangan Lake is an exquisitely beautiful place. When the sunlight is right it’s hard to believe your […]
The spectacular scenery of northern Vietnam is dominated by karst mountains and islands. The natural landscape here has been shaped over thousands of years by rice farming, either in vast, flooded plains that fill the horizon, or steep terraces in the mountains near China. Many itineraries for Vietnam feature Halong Bay as the premier sight […]
Erawan Falls is a national park in Thailand, lying north-west of the town of Kanchanaburi and close to the mountains of Myanmar. It’s a beautiful rainforest setting, where a series of sparkling green pools cascade into each other amidst rampant tropical vegetation. Visiting the Falls you get to clamber around exposed tree roots, low-hanging vines […]
My article on Western Australia has been published by the travel magazine Go Mad Nomad. Western Australia covers one third of the landmass of Australia, and if the state was an independent country, it would be the tenth largest in the world. The state of WA is sparsely populated and, apart from the capital city […]
After three weeks travelling through Thailand, we flew from Bangkok to Hanoi. I’m quite behind on the blog as we’ve been so busy exploring. We used Hanoi as a base for getting around the north of the country, as the capital has good connections to the surrounding rural regions. We’ve been back to the city […]
One of the sights I’ve been most looking forward to seeing in Thailand is Ang Thong National Marine Park. The National Park incorporates a vast number of small islands in the Gulf of Thailand. These forested, rocky islands are surrounded by a smooth azure ocean, and have outstanding white sand beaches. The islands of Ang […]
I’m currently staying on the island of Ko Samui. We’re on the quiet side of the island, in a small fishing village called Taling Ngam. The village has a beautiful temple called Wat Kiri Wongkaram. It’s a Buddhist temple, and is incredibly brightly coloured and well-maintained. It’s kept in immaculate condition, with even the sandy […]
I caught the bus from northern Phuket to Surat Thani, a town near the Gulf coast. I stayed a night there to break up the journey from Phuket to Ko Samui. Most visitors don’t stay in the city and just go straight through, but I’m glad I got to spend a bit of time in […]
It’s Day One of my five month trip backpacking through South East Asia and Australia. We flew into Phuket very early in the morning (4.30am) and I’m now at Nai Yang beach. It’s the rainy season here on the Andaman coast at the moment so our visit to Phuket will be brief this time, but […]
Rough Tor is the second highest point on Bodmin Moor, and in Cornwall. It’s a particularly striking and atmospheric feature of Bodmin Moor, as its rocky summit is topped with boulders piled up in a unique way. Climbing Rough Tor gives a great view over the surrounding Cornish countryside. Walking to Rough Tor involves crossing […]
The garden at Peterhouse has been beautiful over the past few weeks. The college has a large back garden contained within an old stone wall, and the whole lawn has been completely covered with daffodils. The garden lies behind the Fitzwilliam Museum, and extends a long way. I visited Peterhouse garden a few times within […]
The ancient landscape of Bodmin Moor has been occupied for over 10,000 years. While walking over the moorland you can find the remains of Bronze Age settlements fairly easily, as the stones of round houses are half-submerged in grass. Archeological evidence has shown that Mesolithic hunter gatherers and Neolithic early farmers also occupied this part […]
The Old City in Jaipur is a great place to explore. Not only are there major sights here such as the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), but there are lots of small temples, which you can wander into. These can be more fun than the major sights as there […]
The Old Library at Queens’ College was opened to the public for a few weeks in February and early March. This beautiful place is still equipped with its original medieval lecterns. The floor and fittings are made of dark wood, making the library very atmospheric. I love the old volumes that surround you in the […]
Walking the South West Coast Path is a chance to discover some beautiful and soul-stirring scenery. I explored the coast path in North Devon, and I loved the rocky cliffs, crashing surf, and the pink thrift flowering everywhere. The coastline here is often strewn with fallen boulders that have dropped into the sea from […]
At the far end of Cádiz at Playa de la Caleta, the city peters out into a long pier and the Atlantic Ocean. Wandering here at sunset, I came across a steel drum band playing, and an artist carefully tending his sand sculpture. The sculpture has an amazing amount of detail, and depicts an octopus, […]
Founded by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the time of Elizabeth I, Emmanuel College was originally intended as a home for Puritan beliefs. Today Emmanuel is known for its striped formal lawn in Front Court, its Wren chapel (one of only two in Cambridge), its swimming pool, and beautiful large paddock with a pond […]
On a road through Snowdonia, a unique stone cottage sits on a sharp bend, among quiet trees. Just off the roadside, the cottage is made of stones so large they are almost boulder sized. It is known as the Ugly House, Tŷ Hyll. The Ugly House is situated near a bridge, which runs over the […]
I loved exploring the Plaza de España in Seville. It was my favourite place in the city when I visited in May. Surrounded by lakes, bridges and fountains, the Plaza de España is a sweeping, palatial building full of alcoves that represent each of Spain’s provinces. Beautiful bridges span the ornamental lake. The Plaza de España […]