Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 12 (Changes)

    I thought it would be fun to wrap up this series by comparing impressions from my original visit to Australia in 1997 to my return there in 2018. A lot remained the same although I also noticed some discernible differences too. Of course I couldn’t ignore the two decades of changes within myself, and that…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 11 (Lists)

    We’re getting close to the end with this penultimate article in the Australasian series. Thank you for bearing with me. I thought I would shift my focus and provide an update on various lists that I maintain. I’m known to be a bit obsessive-compulsive and I tally visits to places or objects that I consider…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 10 (Breweries)

    Longtime readers probably guessed that eventually I’d talk about beer and breweries that I found during the trip. I’m so predictable. Naturally I focused some research on this topic ahead of time so I’d be prepared. I did find one surprise, though. It turned out that beer trends in the United States seemed to cross…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 9 (Epic Runs)

    All those large restaurant meals began to take a toll on my waistline even with our busy touring schedule. I hadn’t come close to my normal fitness regimen even with frequent walks and hikes to various sites. I was on vacation and I supposed that should be expected. Still, I needed to get out and…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 8 (Captive Animal Encounters)

    The previous article discussed our several encounters with wild animals in their native habitats. However, we saw even more in captivity. My older son collects zoos like I collect breweries. He makes sure that he saves a map from each one as a souvenir too (wonder where he inherited that quirk from?). No matter where…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 7 (Wild Animal Encounters)

    Certainly the wildlife we experienced differed from what we’d typically seen before. Australia and New Zealand, so far removed from the rest of the world for so long, featured all sorts of famously unique creatures. I don’t need to elaborate. We’re all familiar with them. I simply enjoyed the opportunity to experience them in their…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 6 (The Hunter Region)

    I dropped a hint in one of the earlier articles that our plans went awry only once. That happened in Australia. Upon landing in Sydney, we headed immediately about three hours north by automobile along the coast into the Hunter Region. The Hunter Valley formed the most well-known portion of the region, acclaimed for its…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 5 (Heading Inland)

    As mentioned earlier, we didn’t spend much time away from the coastline during our adventures except for a couple of days on New Zealand’s North Island. I already wrote about the geothermal sites. We saw several additional noteworthy sites during our inland jaunt as well. Hobbiton My older son watched the entire Lord of the…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 4 (Geothermal)

    New Zealand anchored the southwestern end of the Ring of Fire, a long strand of seismic and volcanic activity on the outer edges of the Pacific Ocean. Here the earth’s tectonic plates collided, with results particularly apparent on the nation’s North Island. No active volcanoes currently threatened although cracks and fissures hissed angrily in numerous…

  • Australasian Adventures, Part 3 (Vistas)

    I’ve always liked climbing to the heights, whether by foot, automobile or elevator. Fortunately the parts of New Zealand and Australia we visited included many such opportunities. Some were man-made while others appeared as natural features on the magnificent terrain. Most days brought plenty of chances to appreciate the scenery in all kinds of different…

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