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Tasmania 2024 Day 2 – Tesselated Pavement and Port Arthur
Today G and N went off for a long run about 10 mins drive away in Murdunna while S and I had a bit of sleep-in before heading to the Tesselated Pavement. These rock formations are formed by movement along fault lines fractured the siltstone and erosion has deepened the pattern. Pan formations (more weathering within the formation) form closer to the high tide mark where they dry out more and salt crystals have more chance to form. loaf formations form further out where sea water channelling through the cracks weathers them more quickly. It was a highish tide that was rising when we went which meant coming back we…
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Hamburg Airbus Factory Tour – Mon 20th Nov
The big thing scheduled for today was a tour of the Airbus factory, but like all the factory tours, no photos were allowed. In the morning we went back to the warehouse district so we could have more of a look in the daylight. From there we caught a ferry, train and then bus out to the factory. The tour was a combination of driving round the site in a bus and hoping off at various points in the production line to see what was happening. This plant assembles the A320 and associated planes, all the way up to delivery. It was a pretty interesting tour. In the hangers they…
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Italian Days Food Tour – Sat 10th Nov
We had an early start today for our bus tour to learn about some of the food specialties of the Moderna region. The 7 am pickup in Bologna was necessary so we would arrive at the Parmigiano-Reggiano factory in time to see the production. Parmigiano-Reggiano is made every morning with the previous evening’s milking and that morning’s milking. It only produced in the provinces of Parma, Emilio Reggio, Moderna, Bologna to the right of the river Reno and Mantua to the north of the river Po. The milk must come from these areas and the cows must only eat grass or hay from the area. They cannot be fed silage…
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Bologna Pasta Class – 9th Nov
Bologna is famous for three things—the oldest university in the world, food and its porticos which are UNESCO World Heritage listed. In planning our two full days here I had the food side pretty much covered and then planned to hit the other two in the gaps. Our first day I had booked a pasta making class. Bologna has several pastas that it is known for, tortelloni, tortellini, tagliatelle ragu and lasagna verdi. In our pasta class we would make and eat the first three. That would start later, this morning we went for a run. Had some breakfast. I’m off coffee due to migraines but most bars do fresh…
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Brescia, Italy – Wed 8th to Thurs 9th Nov
After our delayed flight to Milan we finally arrived in to Brescia mid-afternoon. We checked into the hotel and then headed off to the Roman ruins. Since we were so late, G’s client meeting was moved to the following afternoon, so he was able to join me sightseeing. Brescia is a bit off the normal tourist route. It is about 40 mins by train from Milan to the west of Lake Garda. The monumental area of San Salvatore – Santa Guilia Monastery and Capitolium Temple Archeological area are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site: Longobards in Italy. Places of Power. On a previous visit to Brescia I had spent…
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K’Gari: Kingfisher Bay Resort Part 2
You can read part 1 here. Monday we started our day walking south from the resort following the McKenzie’s Jetty High tide route. This track goes up and over the headland through the bush, passing the Southern Great Sandy Lookout and out through the dingo fence to the beach. We also passed through what was left of the old Commando School. McKenzie’s Jetty was built for the logging trade and some of the pylons and rusted machinery are still on the beach. We also saw lots of dingo tracks on this section of the beach. Along the beach were expanses of “coffee rock,” made up of sand grains weakly cemented…
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K’Gari Island – Around Kingfisher Bay Resort
We stayed four nights on K’Gari at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. The highlight of our trip was the Beauty Spots Day Tour, but the other days we enjoyed some quieter activities around the resort. There a number of short walks and a variety of ranger-led activities. Sunday morning we took the Beerillbee Track which winds up through the bush above the resort to the Great Sandy Northern Lookout. We then exited the resort area through the dingo gate, selecting some stout branches to ward off any dingoes and headed down towards Dundonga Creek. There was plenty of birdlife through this area. Once down at the creek we headed towards the…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Dorrigo National Park
While driving between Nambucca Heads and Yamba, we stopped at Dorrigo National Park. This is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Area. From the National Park Website: The rainforests in Dorrigo National Park are part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, the most extensive strip of diverse rainforest anywhere on earth. The World Heritage Area is a direct window into the past and the future, providing a link to the ancient pre-human world and a stunning and irreplaceable record of life on our planet. https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/dorrigo-national-park/learn-more First, we took in the view from the Skywalk. There are many walks in the National Park, but we decided on the…