The best way to describe Dad was that he ‘marched to the beat of a different drummer’. He was born on the 21st January, 1923 in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs forever stayed in his blood. As a family we jokingly say 1923 as he had three different birth certificates. He was either 88, 89 [...]
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens”. Peggy’s attitude to life was beyond comparison. Peggy Eileen O’Connor was born in Warwick on July [...]
Lisbon is an unpretentious city that is old and new, chic and trendy, stylishly Portuguese, spirited and humble, a city and people with soul. They love their hedonistic lifestyle, eating delectable seafood, drinking Super Bock beer and dining into the early morning only to be revived with strong espresso coffee and heavenly pastel de nata [...]
Diving the West Coast of Canada is like no other place in the world. The cold water, strong currents and some of the largest tides in the world make this a challenging environment for any scuba diver. The beauty of diving here is that the warm Alaskan currents bathe the coastline in nutrients that promote [...]
“On belay”, “Belay on”, “Climbing”, “Climb on” is the constant mantra of climbers. It’s the communication pattern that allows you to climb safely with your partner. By being consistent it allows two climbers separated by distance to communicate clearly. Banff is a mecca for rock-climbing, mountaineering and ice-climbing, and during winter the temperatures drop to [...]
She escaped from Los Angeles with barely a carload of possessions, leaving behind her Hollywood lifestyle, her eccentric artist husband and the famous actors and actresses that were her neighbours. She took the possessions that meant something to her, the items that had layers of memories, and drove back to Calgary. The gold chain was [...]
They say the only people who can call it ‘Kili’ are the people who have reached its summit, gazed upon its glaciers, felt the biting cold of -25 degrees and wrestled with the unpredictable influence of altitude on both their bodies and mind. Mike successfully ascended neighbouring Mt Kenya at 5450 metres only a few days [...]
Ruaha National Park, was the fifth game park of the trip, and was also one of the remotest in Tanzania. Mike had seen it all, experienced the elephants of Tarangire National Park, swatted tseste flies and swallowed his antimalarial medication throughout the journey. He had seen the stark flatness and openness of Serengeti and the [...]
Darrell unzipped the tent with his gloved hand and entered gruffly and stood above him….”You’re up…” Bob couldn’t believe it was already his turn. Bob rubbed his eyes fearing the moment, the voice and the words that were uttered to him… Bob’s eyes were wide, fearful and looked as though he had seen and heard [...]
Salim sat cross-legged as frankincense flooded the room and the sweet coffee soothed him. He stared out the window lost in thought. His long white robes covered him from shoulder to ankle and his embroidered hat sat elegantly on his dark black hair. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stood, moving slowly at first [...]
