Yearly Archives: 2021 Papua New Guinea is fascinating! Home to just over nine million people, at last estimate there were over 7000 different cultural groups with almost 850 distinct languages being spoken. The country is routinely touted as the most linguistically diverse place on the planet. Of course, with the pressures of the modern world, and the double-edged […]  Point Nepean National Park is a special place with a long and visible history. It sits at the very edge of Melbourne, Victoria: the city wraps itself around Port Phillip, and from the southeast tip here at Point Nepean, you can almost throw a stone across the Victory Bight to the southwestern Melbourne suburb of […]  August 1st is Swiss National Day, and thanks to William Tell, Switzerland’s independence will always be associated with apples. Who doesn’t know the story of that legendary Swiss hero? That mountain man, that peasant from Bürglen in the canton of Uri, who resisted the commands of a tyrannical overlord, and was then forced to shoot […]  I was already in love with India when I made my first visit to Varanasi. That magical northern city exceeded my already-high expectations and left an indelible impression. The spiritual capital of India, Varanasi (Benares, Banaras, Kashi), sits on the left bank of the Ganga (Ganges) in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Dating back […]  There is a special magic about alpine flowers in their natural habitats! They are ruggedly unique, suited to their particular alpine environments, and yet delicate in their beauty. Whether it is in the Swiss Alps (see: Rainy Alpine Hillsides) or the Snowy Mountains of Australia (eg: Alpine Flowers and Summer Snow), there is something uplifting […] |
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