Tag: Day walks

A walker passes a concrete wall covered in street art; one panel has the words Bondi Beach in large letters

Bondi to Manly Walk, Sydney

Our Wanderlust 4 Comments

Prelude

We plan to walk from Bondi to Manly over three consecutive days, setting out in the wake of the March equinox as night begins to give ground to the light. We’ll start at one famed Sydney beach and follow the shoreline for 80 kilometres to another. 

At the right time of the year, you can spot whales as you walk, although the only ones we’ll see are the Buri Buri symbols adorning the waymarkers that guide our path northwards.

We’ll traverse headlands with sweeping views of the cerulean-blue Pacific Ocean, wealthy north shore villages, sandstone cliffs, remnant bushland, and the bays and beaches of Sydney Harbour National Park.

Tourists take photos of the Sydney skyline and each other on a grassy reserve famous for its city views
Read More
A wide view of the Sydney Harbour bridge rising above the Rocks and the apartment blocks of the north shore.

Seven Bridges Walk, Sydney

Our Wanderlust 2 Comments

The air is watery, the vegetation lush. A waning moon hangs in the pale sky. The chirping of geckos echoes in our ears. Although the sun is not yet up, the harbour pulsates with neon-lit sea kayaks, dragon boats, and early morning ferries. 

We cross the water to Milsons Point, the start and end of our circular Seven Bridges walk. It’s a 28-kilometre route, although inevitable off-trail explorations will add a few more kilometres to our day.

Click on any photo to enlarge
Read More
A view over the multicoloured houses of Manarola

Cinque Terre: a postcard from the lost world

Our Wanderlust 8 Comments

It’s our first spring in 18 months and we can’t get enough of the Cinque Terre; its vividly coloured villages, sparkling beaches, warm Italian sun and hillsides splashed with red poppies, purple orchids and white narcissus.

Centuries ago, the steep hills of the Cinque Terre were terraced with dry-stone walls and planted with vines. The inhabitants of its five villages farmed the land, fished the seas and made wine. But poverty, war and the lure of the city led to the abandonment of many of the hillside plots. The stabilising stone walls fell into disrepair and devastating landslides became more common. In response, the Cinque Terre National Park was created to restore and protect the natural and cultural heritage of this achingly beautiful coastal area. 

We plan to walk for four days; two days on the Cinque Terre’s high route (the Sentiero Rosso), one day on the coastal route, and one day further north, in the wilder Portofino Natural Park. 

Read More
Silhouette of person with an umbrella & streetscape just before sunset

Walking into the Light

Our Wanderlust 24 Comments

Melbourne is in lockdown. We can only walk for an hour a day, within a five-kilometre radius of home. Once out in the world, we cannot come close to another person or stop to enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine. And we must wear a mask. The seductive aromas of coffee roasters and spice shops, the fragrance of starry clematis, sweet floral wattle and heady jasmine are lost to us. 

Touch, taste and smell, all compromised by what it takes to keep COVID-19 at bay. Light, however, is not denied to us. The blue hour, the golden hour, solar noon, the twilights. If we walk at different times of the day, perhaps we will see things in a different light and deepen our sensory experience of these strange times.  Read More

Anna striding across a wide curving metal bridge

Walking in the Winter of Our Discontent

Our Wanderlust 10 Comments

Winter 2020 unfolds as a season of discontent. Borders are closed. The joy of walking long distances through unknown, beguiling lands is lost to us and, as the winter progresses, even the hope of a sojourn in tropical Queensland is extinguished. 

Read More
Michael posing as a Climate Guardian against a backdrop of painted angel wings

Our Isolation Camino

Our Wanderlust 14 Comments

In Australia, in this time of isolation, all travel is banned. Marooned at home, we find ourselves yearning for the long-distance paths of Spain. Alluring, elusive, unattainable. Until a challenge goes out, to walk the Camino Inglés wherever you are in the world. A spark is ignited. We decide to walk it and transition, step by step, out of our state of restless confinement. 

Read More
Looking across to the village of Saint Thomé in evening light

Summer in Provence

Our Wanderlust 2 Comments

We are in Provence to visit friends and wander slowly through the heat haze of summer, travelling from the elegant former papal city of Avignon to the Mediterranean and up into the Rhône-Alpes.
Read More

Blue hazy mountains & sky: Into the Pyrénées

Into the Pyrénées

Our Wanderlust 2 Comments

Summer 2016

Detail of legs from a paintingToulouse, capital of France’s southern Occitanie region, is close to the Pyrénées and perfectly positioned for a two-week sojourn studying french before we set off into the Haute-Pyrénées.
Read More

Wild Raspberries

Sweden in the Green Season

Our Wanderlust 4 Comments

Sweden in the Green Season: Three Walks and a Beach

Just beyond the muted ochres and calm sophistication of Stockholm is a wilder world. Summer is the green season and it is greener the deeper into the woods you wander. You can catch a train to the last metro stop on the line going south or north and find yourself on a long-distance walking trail. Here is our story of walking the first section of three of these trails.
Read More

Latvia: Rīga and Beyond

Our Wanderlust 9 Comments

Late one warm Saturday afternoon finds us on the sundeck of the Rīga ferry as it navigates its way through the beautiful labyrinth that is the Stockholm archipelago.

We pass so close to some islands that we can exchange greetings with the summer house dwellers sunning themselves on the rocks. Islands upon islands, pine forests, red and yellow-painted summer houses, sailing boats, skerries. Then out into the Baltic Sea, calm enough on the night of our crossing to sleep without memory.
Read More