Author: Tim Porter

The city of Cairns, at the base of the Cape York Peninsula in northeastern Australia, is known as the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. However, don’t let that title make you think the reef is all the area has to offer. We spent a wonderful couple of days in town and out exploring the…

“Ayers Rock”, known as Uluru by the aboriginal people in the area, is a huge sandstone monolith that’s the centerpiece of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The name ‘Uluru’ is the name given by the aboriginal people, however, it has no specific meaning. Uluru is just what they call it. This massive sandstone monument rises…

As a result of our Facebook and Instagram posts over the past two weeks, we’ve gotten multiple questions regarding where we were and how the keck we got there. I’m writing this post to hopefully give some background on where we are today and how we got here. Where are we? Well, we’re in Australia.…

When we arrived in Hobart, Tasmania mid-day today (Oct 30th)m we new that the Tasmanian Devill was iconic Tasmania. However, we were a bit surprsed when we discovered a Tasmanian Devil sculpture in the baggage claim (luggage arrival) area. No real marsupials in sight however. Hobart is a city of about 260,000 on the southeast…

Along the Autostrasse Sunday morning was clear and warm in Vienna, so we had our breakfast outside, along the Danube River. Then it was time to climb back into the bus and head for Salzburg. About an hour outside of Vienna we stopped and hopped on a boat for a cruise up the Danube. We’d…

Vienna Having left Budapest first thing in the morning, we were heading west across the Pannonian plain for Austria. After just a few hours on the road we saw the Austrian Alps rising along the horizon, and then we were back alongside the Danube River, just outside Vienna. After we grabbed lunch we were on…

Onward to Hungary It was still early June, warm and sunny as we rolled into Budapest. After leaving Prague we headed south, stopping on Bratislava for lunch and a quick look around. Leaving Bratislava we entered the Pannonian plain as we continued south in Hungary. The Pannonian plain was previously a prehistoric basin of lakes.…

Onward to Eastern Europe – Prague Having been on self-directed travel for over two months, we started June with a welcome change. Today we’re headed to Prague with new friends as part of a Globus tour. I remember this part of Europe mostly for its isolation until the fall of communism in 1990. For me,…

Goodbye Spain On Thursday afternoon, last day of May, we headed out of Valencia for the last time. Our flight took us first, over the Mediterranean and then over the Alps to Munich, Germany. With a late arrival in Munich, we had a room in the airport hotel. That turned out to be a good…

Amsterday – Great Dam City As I thought about the today’s blog on Amsterdam, I considered starting with “It was a dark and stormy night….” On reflection, it was still the afternoon. More on the weather later; let me tell you about Amsterdam first. Amsterdam is a wonderful city that’s got a great deal to…