Our day of hiking today on the Great Ocean Road took us to an iconic lighthouse near where for years, many ships found themselves beached on reefs. It’s called the Shipwreck coast and today, the once crucial lighthouse is no longer illuminated, replaced by a simple solar-powered light that’s much […]

At dinner last night, here at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, the discussion wove all over the map. Seated with me were a retired couple from the UK, Mark and Jackie, a journalist from Italy named Barbara, and her hostess, a rep from Victoria Tourism named Margaret.  As the Victorian chardonnay […]

My feet are sore, but it’s a good kind of sore, after our 22 kilometer hike on Victoria’s Great Ocean Walk.  I’m happily dry and comfy sipping tea at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, located on a flat plain where in the distance a herd of kangaroos are munching on grass. […]

I’m up and ready here at Chris’s Beacon Point, a lovely spot perched high above Apollo Bay with fantastic views of the Southern Ocean.  This place has a long history, first opening up here in 1979 and is all pinewood, with floor to ceiling glass walls that let diners soak […]

I remember once telling a friend in an email that I was headed to Austria. “Don’t hit any kangaroos,” he replied.  I think about this story and the last time I was headed to this same city, Australia’s second largest metropolis–Melbourne.  Tonight’s flight will take me across the Pacific for […]

Disneyland I am told is way too big to try to see in just one day. Plus, there is Disney Adventure right next door, so today we will visit the rest of the park as I spend my second day here in Anaheim. The city would be pretty downhearted if […]

Disneyland is  the magnet that draws grandparents, parents and their kids to Anaheim, south of Los Angeles.  We visited the park today, and my two hosts were stunned to see so few people lined up to get in. “It’s never this uncrowded,” they said, both amazed that we were able […]

Egypt’s economy is at the heart of the protests and calls for Mubarak’s exit. A few stories I’ve read have provided some background to the situation, which, despite some pundits’ claims, is not the fault of the US government or Wall Street, but mostly a result of an entrenched system […]

I was expecting to join my friend Ed for lunch at the cafe today, but instead, i heard his anxious voice on my office voicemail. “I’m sorry I can’t make lunch today,” he said, “we have a terrible situation at the house. The ice dams are building up and it’s […]

Now comes the exciting part of being a travel writer. The next trip. As I gaze out into this winter wonderland with the four-foot drifts in South Deerfield, I am reading the itinerary that will take me, far, far down under. I’m heading for Melbourne Australia next Tuesday night and […]

I’ve been following a story out of Greenfield that sadly, may be the future for many cash-strapped towns. The subject is a town employee named Lester Reed, who is being laid off to save money and being replaced by an outside contractor. I used to play basketball with the soft-spoken […]