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Friday, August 17, 2007


1. Giant Sequoias in Yosemite NP, California, USA

Yosemite National Park in California, USA is a stunning setting, with huge rock faces and endless waterfalls surrounding an almost perfectly flat valley floor. Further out from the main section of the park is an area of giant sequoias that tower to almost 80 metres high. The best area to see them is in Mariposa Grove where there’s a tree that you can walk through and is wide enough to take a horse and carriage through (the early 1900’s day tripper photos are very amusing). The photo of me standing in front of one of the trees is one of my all time favourites as you can barely see me!!



2. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Seeing the pyramids had been on my list for many years and I certainly chose a great day to see them as there was a sand storm! To see such an ancient monument in person was almost surreal, I had a real ‘oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’m here’ moment when I went inside one of the pyramids! Standing at the base of the largest of the pyramids looking up and seeing that each step was almost as tall as me certainly made me feel very small and very overwhelmed...

The Egyptians are excellent salesmen (I say men as apparently there are no women in Egypt..) and also very well travelled as all seemed to have a friend or relative from Melbourne, Australia.. Being so insistent paid off as I ended up in the very undignified position of being pulled around the pyramids on a horse by a 13yr old kid (here's a tip, never get a horse, camel, donkey, giraffe, or any other 4 legged animal they try to force on you!!).



3. Tiger Leaping Gorge, China

Tiger Leaping gorge is one of those sights that is so amazing that it almost doesn't seem real. I would say this is one of the must sees in China, it is hard to get to, but so worth it. It is an incredibly spectacular gorge that is 16km long and in parts almost 4km from the water to the top of the mountains! The gorge is so narrow in parts you think you could be the tiger and it is one of the most beautiful places I've been to in the world. I was there in 2004 and the drive to the end of the road was pretty hairy, we actually paid the driver extra to go slowly! Hopefully the road has been paved now…



4. New York City, USA

When I travel I’m much more a landscape and nature lover than a city dweller as most cities are much like the next, however to me some cities themselves are a destination. When I think of cities like Paris, Venice, London, La Paz, San Francisco (and many many more) I know I could contentedly wander about the city without even entering a building or visiting a museum and be just happy to feel the city surround me. New York is one such city... When I caught the bus from the airport to Manhattan I was so excited to see my first glimpse of its iconic skyline. When I stepped off the bus in Manhattan I was completely overwhelmed as I stood there looking down a seemingly endless narrow gorge made of steel, concrete and glass that seemed to make me shrink as I lent my head further back to take in the massive heights of the buildings around me.



5. Facing a polar bear, Churchill, Canada

After a 24 hour trip out of Winnipeg I finally arrived in Churchill which is famous for the annual polar bear migration. Each year 1300 polar bears traipse through the area as the ice forms in Hudson Bay and any documentary you've seen on polar bears was most probably filmed there.

Starting my tour, we were only 15km from the town when a polar bear wandered across the road and to see something so beautiful and wild was quite the moment. But I got used to it pretty quick as a few minutes later we came across a mother bear and 2 cubs curled up asleep in the field by the side of the road. Once on the tundra buggy (picture a North American school bus on monster truck wheels) we began an eight hour journey around the snow covered tundra and I saw almost 30 polar bears.

One of the most memorable moments of day was standing on the outdoor deck on the back of the truck when a huge polar bear stood up and leaned on the bus. It was amazing to be so close to such a massive and dangerous animal (but two metres above luckily) and to make direct eye contact.

I knew I was completely safe, but it was very clear when the look in his eyes went from curiosity, to hmn you’d be good for lunch…

Another highlight was seeing two males play fighting. They were standing on their back legs throwing punches and wrestling and it was just incredible, these animals are HUGE and yet they were just messing around having fun so they also looked really cute and cuddly!


6. Hoover Dam, Nevada, USA

Hoover Dam had been on my must see list for a long time, so when my father and I made a snap decision to head out to Las Vegas during the last 24 hours left of our one week trip together in the US, we just had to get out there. The Hoover dam is short trip out of Las Vegas and luckily my dad is as big a geek as I am and was also excited to see this massive construction. While the dam wall isn’t that big compared to many more recently built, it is an incredible sight when you consider it was built in the 1930’s. Seeing it featured in the Transformers movie certainly brought back memories – wish I could have seen Bumblebee there!



7. Giant Buddha, China

Leshan is home to the worlds biggest Buddha, a seated giant with a beautiful face that looked so serene and calm. It was nice to see that it had been built for a functional purpose, rather than for someone's ego, as the rocks from the cliff that it was carved fell down into the river below to help calm the waters where two rivers join and many fisherman's lives were being lost. Standing at his feet definitely makes you feel small…

8. Water wall NGV, Melbourne, Australia

I know this is a bit out of left-field… but the water wall at the front of the National Gallery of Victoria is a place that always makes me feel small. I am such a kid that every time I visit the gallery I’m always excited to hold my hands up against the wall and feel the water run under and around my fingers. It’s such a wonderful place as it brings out the kid in everyone and you see all sorts of people from toddlers, to suits, to octogenarians smile contentedly as they place their hands on the wall, or just run their fingers across it as they walk past. When the gallery was renovated a few years ago the plans included removing the water wall, but because of the protests of generations of Melbournians, the architects relented and the wall was saved for all of us who like to feel like a kid and for all the new kids to come.

9. Slieve League, Ireland

Slieve League is easily the most impressive site I saw in Ireland. The cliffs were tricky to find and involved very narrow winding roads with sheep, but it was worth it as these massive cliff hills that drop down hundreds of metres to the Atlantic ocean were so wild and brutal it was literally jaw-dropping. If you go to Ireland, you must go to Slieve League; it has none of the crowds, tour buses and tourist infrastructure of the Cliffs of Moher and is a hundred times more impressive. It is so remote and rural you have to open and close a paddock gate to get there. It's not completely untouched of course, there is a really good cafe about 5km down the road that does awesome coffee and has lovely locally made knitted items.

10. Tikal, Guatemala

Tikal is the site of the best Mayan ruins in the Americas and it is an amazing place. We hired a guide and walked 8km seeing various parts of the city, but we only saw a small section of the whole site and that in itself is only 20% of the entire city as the rest is still to be excavated. There are massive temples, plazas and housing and the most spectacular part of Tikal is the fact that it is situated deep in the El Peten jungle. Upon climbing a few of the temples it was awe-inspiring to see these huge temples rising up above the jungle canopy, while hearing howler monkeys and various birds in the background.

We visited Tikal on 21st June and if we had been there for sunrise and it had been sunny, we would have seen the shadows of all manner of buildings, stones, etc line up perfectly. The Maya were impressive astronomers and even had a calendar that is more accurate than ours. The only problem being that the Mayan calendar ends on 22nd December 2012... When we asked our Mayan guide what would happen, expecting him to answer that the calendar would start again from the beginning, we were quite surprised to hear him say, ¨the world will end¨!! He must have seen the look on our faces, as he then added, ¨well I don’t think it will actually end, but there will be major climate events and changes¨. So remember that date as I would recommend having a great time the night before and not organising a BBQ or putting out your washing on the 22nd!