Category: Travels
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Bicheno & Launceston
We hit the road heading northeast from Hobart on the A3 toward the resort town of Bicheno a little over 3 hours away. Our hotel room overlooked the water, which wasn’t difficult to get since there weren’t many other guests. We found a cafe and caught a late lunch, then walked up and down the […]
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Richmond & Australia’s Oldest Catholic Church
Today was a soft day. We took a day trip out of Hobart, and headed east to the village of Richmond. Our first stop was a bridge, the oldest such structure in Australia. It was sprinkling slightly, so we got back in the car and drove up the hill to a church, the oldest Catholic […]
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Hobart & Port Arthur
Tasmania in the winter can be brutal, but considering the winters I have seen in the northeast US and the Shenandoah Valley in my lifetime, the cold was a tad inconvenient. But next time (if there is a next time), come in the summer. There’s just a lot more to enjoy when the weather is […]
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Weta Cave & Te Papa
I knew we would find the artist studios in Wellington that helped Peter Jackson create the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies. Weta Cave, named after that ugly cricket indigenous to New Zealand, is home to the prosthetic and digital monsters, superheroes, and awe-inspiring creations that populate many popular and obscure films and […]
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Hell’s Gate in Rotorua
Although I am back home in Waynesboro, I did have a few more photos to share. After a full day visiting Hobbiton in Middle Earth, we went to soak in the mud pools of Hell’s Gate. Yes, that’s what it’s called. The most popular hot springs in the north island is reportedly the Hell’s Gate […]
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Return to Aotearoa
It’s been 4 years since I traveled to New Zealand. And since I was spending time visiting Fr. Kerry in Australia, I figured it was time to return to the Land of the Long White Cloud. Besides, there were lots of other Lord of the Rings movie locations to visit. It was definitely a prime […]
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London, then Home
On Saturday we boarded a train at the GWR Station Cardiff for our last leg of this journey–London. We discovered that lunch is not served all day long, as it is back home. They do actually cut you off at 2:30PM until the dinner hour, likely 5PM. I must say it’s an admirable attempt to […]
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Raglan Castle
On our last full day in Wales, I just knew we had to get in one last castle before heading out to London. So we set out for Raglan Castle, a trip that would take a 15 minute train ride to Newport, a 7 minute hike to the bus station downtown, a 40 minute bus ride to […]
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Caerphilly Castle
We got off the train at the fourth stop, a little town north of Cardiff called Caerphilly. It has a castle with a moat. A MOAT! This I had to see. As we approached it from the north, its massive outer walls came into view. This is a castle in the middle of a modern city. […]
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