Snap and Scribble

The flight from Singapore to Colombo took about three and a half hours. It was cloudy pretty much all the way and when we came down to land in Colombo, there didn’t seem to be any bottom to the clouds.

As the plane approached the runway i was watching the view from the forward facing camera – on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me. The first i saw of it was a small triangle of lights shining through the fog in the distance. As we got closer, the runway came into sight through the haze, but it soon started to look like we weren’t on quite the right course to land properly in the centre of it. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
1 Comment »

The flight from Darwin to Singapore was relatively painless. It’s only three and a half hours anyway, and the departure time of around six thirty in the evening was about as good as you can get. It meant i had plenty of time to do what i needed to do before i left and to get to the airport in plenty of time at a reasonably leisurely pace.

I’d booked a room at the airport hotel for the night as i figured i wasn’t going to have enough time in Singapore to make it worthwhile traipsing into the city and trying to find a hotel – and then having to get back to the airport fairly early the next morning. So staying in the airport seemed like a good idea. But when i checked in and found out the room had no windows, i wasn’t so sure! … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

Jo had very kindly offered to drive me to the airport in Brisbane, so i didn’t have to cart my bags to and from the train for a change. And the flight to Darwin went smoothly, arriving pretty much on time. I caught the airport shuttle bus to the Paravista motel, which is just down the road from Rohan and Liza’s, where i was staying, and i was back at their place by about half past one on Saturday morning.

After not quite enough sleep, i had breakfast at Parap markets as usual on a Saturday. I had baramundi curry and rice for a change, rather than the vegie laksa which i often have there. The market was quieter than it had been when i was there last. The wet season was due to start, which meant the tourist season was over and a significant proportion of the non-tourist population had headed south too. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
2 Comments »

I got to Brisbane nearly two weeks ago now, and i don’t seem to have had enough spare time to write since then.

Last Thursday, two weeks of being in three different cities started to do my head in and i ended up hiring a car and driving up to Maleny, which is a couple of hours drive north of Brisbane, out the back of the Sunshine Coast, to visit Chelsea. When i went to pick up the car, they told me it was a year to the day since the last time i hired one from them! It was good to get out of the city and into the hills – and see some green instead of just grey concrete everywhere. I stayed there that night and then drove to Caloundra for a swim in the ocean before going back to Brisbane. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

Melbourne was ok, but there was nothing really notable about my stay there. The weather was better than i expected it to be. Although it was a bit chilly at times, i never really regretted my decision not to travel with long trousers or a jacket.

I caught up with a few old friends while i was there, some of whom i hadn’t seen for quite a long time. And i managed to spend a few hours in the state library doing a bit of research into the theatre that my grandfather’s grandfather allegedly built in Melbourne in the 1870s. I didn’t have time to find out anything really useful though. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »