I’d visited Auckland five years earlier during my previous Round the World trip, but only saw the central part of the city and neighbouring Devonport. This time I had allowed a few days to see some of the scenic areas of North Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula. Additionally I was keen to check out the […]
It was a ten hour flight from Hong Kong to Fiji, but it was like travelling to a different planet. Well-organised, polite Hong Kong became totally laid-back, friendly Fiji. A new country for me and number 69 in my Countries Visited. I found it a bit frustrating at first expecting everything to be as planned […]
I had visited Hong Kong once before, but that was thirty years ago. I remember skyscrapers towering over seedy street markets, masses of small shops selling cameras and Walkmans, and a general feeling of British authority overlaying a rather suppressed Chinese culture. I also remember arriving at an airport squashed between high-rise blocks of flats […]
Update September 2014: New photographs have been added at the end of this article. York is an internationally recognised tourist destination, Leeds is well-known as the 24 hour city and the spa town of Harrogate is a popular conference centre. Close by is the picturesque but little known town of Knaresborough. Make time to visit […]
I’d not previously visited South America so everything in this final stage of my round the world tour was a new experience. Having crossed the dateline, we arrived in Santiago in Chile four hours earlier on the day we had set off from Auckland – a strange feeling. The jet lag took a couple of days to overcome. Only then could […]
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Blenheim and Kaikoura – Round the World in 30 Days
I’d visited New Zealand South Island five years previously, but not Kaikoura and the NE Coast. I’d made a fleeting visit to Blenheim at the time, but that was just long enough to persuade me to return and spend more time there. Stage 4 of my Round the World in 30 Days trip commenced with an […]