Climbing Mount Kinabalu: overcome with good fortune

Climbing Mount Kinabalu: overcome with good fortune

For a few years in my early twenties, I worked for a travel agency and had access to travel brochures and guidebooks galore. The term ‘bucket list’ didn’t cross my mind but during that time I compiled a lengthy one. Blackwater rafting the Waitomo caves, hiking to Everest base camp, diving in the Galapagos Islands, climbing Mount Kinabalu, taking a train across Australia, meeting the Masai Mara in Kenya, watching

A Hike up Preikestolen

A Hike up Preikestolen

Having spent more time outside of the U.S. than in it over the last 3 years, I’ve become accustomed to life without safety railings and liability waivers. If you’re crazy enough to hike along or stand atop a sheer cliff edge, then you should know that all could go terribly wrong and you’d have no one to blame but yourself. Or the person who knocks you over the edge when

Hiking in Namibia

Hiking in Namibia

“This can’t be right.” I’m pushing my way through grass so high there are seeds at the base of my neck. A moment before, I was certain I saw a path there but doubt is creeping in. Is it time to turn back? Shouldn’t the path be veering to the right to loop back? Didn’t the staff say this was an easy trail to follow? And what happened to the

A snapshot of my time in Australia

A snapshot of my time in Australia

As so often happens, this blog is behind. I want to write posts about my week in Western Australia, two weeks in Tasmania, visits to Adelaide and Melbourne, and wine tasting everywhere possible. Plus I still have Philippines posts to finish and some going even further back into my time in Asia. And while I fully intend to get at least some of those posts done, it won’t be today.

Climbing Cradle Mountain

Climbing Cradle Mountain

Tasmania has two well-known icons: the Tasmanian Devil and Cradle Mountain. I didn’t get to see the former, endangered nocturnal animals that they are, but I did make it to the latter. When I arrived in Cradle Valley the afternoon sun was shining and I happily set off around Dove Lake. An easy two hour walk with multiple stops for photos, admiring the view, and contemplating what I’d be doing