Category: Uncategorized
-
More Badlands in Dinosaur Provincial Park
We had not expected this to be our second “badlands park” in a row. Grasslands had been an awesome surprise in terms of the variety and beauty of the terrain and now we were headed to “another” badlands area. We had decided on Dinosaur Provincial Park over the other famous badlands area in Alberta located…
-
Grasslands National Park
We pulled into Regina for a hotel stop before our next six days of camping in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan followed by Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta. The drive from Spruce Woods Provincial Park was mainly notable for the increasingly flat landscape and the kamikaze white moths who hurled themselves at the grill of…
-
We were promised skinks!
The drive from Fort Frances to the Manitoba boarder is incredible: empty roads rise and dip through shield rock, bending around jewel blue lakes and crossing dancing rivers. As you turn west at Kenora, along Highway 17, the topography relents and the road begins to slowly straighten until you find yourself in Manitoba on a…
-
The Scenic Route, or Gas Gauge Obsession.
We had filled up in Wawa. In retrospect we should have topped up in Thunder Bay. When you leave Highway 17 for Highway 11 (also known as MOM’s Road- an acronym for Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota) to head west towards Quetico at Shabaqua Corners you are greeting with a sign in black and yellow warning…
-
A Quetico Catch-Up
We left The Voy, our hotel in Schrieber, well caffeinated and ready to push on to our second camping location, Quetico Provincial Park. The Voy was a joy: recently purchased and renovated by Takreem Mazhar of Dubai, the hotel has undergone the most pleasant revitalization: refreshed and charmingly retro rooms that are clean and tidy,…
-
The North Shore- Lake Superior
Robin and I have been married for 33 years (!), sharing three wonderful kids and one wonderful grandson, an incredible group of friends and extended family, one neurotic dog and a love of travel. We are still relatively new to retirement: in this “post-pandemic” (fingers crossed) time, our thoughts initially turned to international travel, an…
-
Aokari Mount Cook National Park
Aotearoa (Māori word for New Zealand, meaning “land of the long white cloud”) has no shortage of iconic destinations. At or near the top of that list is Mount Cook National Park. The Māori name, Aokari (meaning cloud piercer) best describes the majesty of the highest peak in the Southern Alps. You may recall we…
-
Fiordland and Milford Sound
Fiordland National Park is huge. Jamaica huge. 1.2 million hectares huge. It makes up a large chunk of the south west coast of New Zealand, sits on the tectonic plate divide and includes mountains, plains, rain forests and, of course, 14 incredible fiords. Most of it is very remote and almost inaccessible to most visitors.…
-
Queenstown
We had booked three nights in Queenstown at the wonderful Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel, the kind of place that is certainly not our typical spot. Lovely room, individually prepared gourmet breakfasts with locally sourced ingredients, attentive staff and local wine and canapés from 6-7. Wowzers. The hotel is located alongside the world’s most picturesque rugby…
-
High Country and the South Island
James Baxter is one of New Zealand’s best known poets. In “High Country Weather” he perfectly encapsulates our feelings in travelling by train and car from Christchurch across the Southern Alps to Franz Josef and on down to Queenstown. While the first two lines of the poem are a little dark are only really apply…
-
Christchurch- a city in transition
As one would expect there are hazards to be found in Christchurch. Of the two while the former may be feel more immediate the latter is certainly the more serious. Christchurch is one of the more recent reminders of the potentially catastrophic impact of earthquakes on a region. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake…
-
The Coastal Pacific Railway
Due to the absence of a rental car anywhere within a 100km of Picton on the South Island we were forced to scramble a bit to get from Blenheim to Christchurch. As seems to so often be the case, the bumps in the road worked out for the best. We decided on the option of…
-
Heading South
After the exhilaration of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing we crashed hard only for Robin to awake to the sound of what sounded like air raid sirens at 11:30 pm. Robin being Robin immediately jumped to the conclusion that a volcanic eruption or tsunami was imminent. The sirens stopped relatively quickly. Rich being Rich concluded that…
-
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is considered one of the best hikes in New Zealand and one of the top day hikes anywhere. Over 20km and roughly 8 hours you cross volcanic terrain, barren desert, and dense forests while looking at otherworldly volcanoes, geysers, emerald lakes, hot springs and mountain streams. It is a jam packed…
-
Waitomo and the Glow Worm Tour!
Today was a travel day. We were heading to Tongariro National Park and the wide open spaces of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, one of the most famous one day hikes in the world. But first, a detour. Robin had booked a visit to see the Glow Worms with Down to Earth Travel as a side…
-
Culture, Kai and Connections
Our last night in Rotorua featured a visit to Te Puia for Māori Kai (food) and cultural storytelling. It was a fabulous evening. Te Puia is an education centre that Māori from across New Zealand have access to to learn language, traditional skills and culture. It is funded by the Māori tourist industry in this…
-
Rotorua
New Zealand sits astride two great tectonic plates: the Pacific and the Australian. The North Island and some of the South sits on the latter while most of the South Island sits on the former. As the plates push and slide, New Zealand has one of the most “active” geologies in the world, so much…
-
Where are we? Welcome to Middle Earth!
The astute reader of this blog may have noticed a peculiar omission from the graphic that adorns the home page. New Zealand, a country that is very much the focus of the next few weeks, doesn’t appear to exist. Apparently this is a thing! New Zealand is often left off world maps and New Zealanders…
-
72 Hours in Sydney!
Day One Upon arriving in Sydney we had a short walk to our hotel on the edge of Chinatown, five minutes north of the Central Station. After an early check in we headed out, famished and in search of a bite to eat. I had read about the Big Bite on Pitt, a popular sandwich…
-
The Blue Mountains
“We’re not in Collingwood anymore!” With apologies to “The Wizard of Oz” We landed in Sydney after a three hour flight from The Red Center to find the city in the grips of a wicked heat wave, recording its hottest temperatures in more than two years. Ian greeted us at the airport and shepherded us…
-
Evenings in The Red Center
First a correction. There is some confusion about what exactly the word Uluru refers to. I was under the impression that it was a widespread replacement for Ayers Rock. While this is true when it comes to the specific site, the resort and airport are still referred to as Ayers Rock and the little town…
-
The Kata Tjuṯa Domes (“The Olgas”)
Like its counterpart Ularu, the Kata Tjuṯa domes are both culturally significant and physically impressive. In the late 1800s these domes were named the Olgas after a German benefactor who sponsored colonial exploration in this area, which is a ridiculous name when you learn a little about the reclaimed name Kata Tjuta. Kata (heads) and…
-
Uluru and The Red Centre
Our trip to Uluru from Melbourne did not get off to an auspicious start. We ordered a “maxi-taxi” to ferry the four of us and our mound of luggage to the airport. When our driver showed up in a sedan he explained the following: 1. There were no available “maxi-taxis” 2. He routinely jammed ten…
-
Melbourne and The Great Ocean Road
Melbourne was a bit of an afterthought. In our initial planning we had intended to travel to Uluru with Lisa and Pete between visiting Patty and Graham in Adelaide and Sarah and Ian in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. When it became obvious that we would have to connect through Melbourne from Adelaide we decided…
-
Adelaide and Area
We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit to South Australia. Graham and Patty have been absolutely fabulous hosts touring us to their favourite spots, preparing incredible meals and sharing fantastic wine. We felt thoroughly spoiled. There are a few areas that haven’t been fully covered in the earlier posts. Hikes On a few occasions the group…
-
Rattle your bag Pete
Australia is filled with amazing animals who aren’t necessarily lethal. On the top of our list as first time visitors to Australia were close encounters with Koalas and Kangaroos! In planning our visit to Adelaide Patty and Graham mentioned that a visit to the Cleland Wildlife Park would be really worthwhile and we would be…
-
Fun at The Fringe!
I’m sure many of us are aware of the Fringe festival concept from hearing about the annual summer event in Edinburgh. When we started planning our visit to Australia Patty mentioned that ensuring our time in Adelaide coincided with the Adelaide Fringe Festival would be a lot of fun. Turns out she was right about…
-
McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Wine Scene
If you have any interest in wine at all you will be familiar with the wines of the McLaren Vale. This beautiful region is only a short drive from Adelaide. According to Graham there are over 300 wineries within an hour of the city! An oenophile’s dream! The plan was to split our first visit…
-
Welcome to Adelaide! Day One
The trip to Adelaide from Heron Island was a bit of an odyssey. It started with a two hour journey on the catamaran in pretty rough waters. The captain began the journey warning us that the crossing might be pretty rough and if we hadn’t taken anything yet it was probably too late for magic…
-
Heron Island Part 3- The Reef
Visiting the Great Barrier Reef has been a bucket list item for Robin and me for a very long time: other than seeing our friends Sarah, Ian, Patty and Graham it was the experience we most looked forward to as we planned our trip. We had done some snorkeling in 2004 in San Blas Panama…
-
Heron Island Part 2- The Turtles
One of our great hopes for our visit to Heron was that we would have the opportunity to see the nesting green turtles. We had read that we were nearing the end of nesting season but held out some hope that we might get lucky. Boy did we get lucky. Upon our arrival at the…
-
Heron Island Part 1: The Birds
From the moment we started planning out our trip to Australia we knew that visiting the Great Barrier Reef would be one of our top priorities. Initially the options seemed overwhelming but thanks to the intrepid research team of Robin and Ian we settled on making Heron Island the base of our reef adventures. Heron…
-
Welcome to Brisbane
Our first stop in Australia is the city of Brisbane. Initially we selected Brisbane as a launching point for accessing the Great Barrier Reef with our travelling companions for this leg of the trip. Lisa and Pete were due to join us from Ontario in nearby Gladstone along with Aussie Ian and Aussie-Canuck Sarah. We…
-
Kei tawhiti koe Auckland!
One of the most striking things about Auckland is the ubiquity of te reo Māori, the language of Māori people. While you see reference to it everywhere and hear it on public transit announcements, Auckland is also full of Pacific Islanders who came seeking a better life in New Zealand. While these immigrants don’t speak…
-
Let’s roll with it!
Well last night was an adventure. Thanks to the cyclone dismissively referred to as “Gabby” by the New Zealanders we’ve met, we were stuck in Auckland without a flight or a hotel room. Communication from the airport staff was not great but once they realized that hundreds of folks had no place to go a…
-
Cyclone Gabrielle 1- Macs 0
Our early optimism about escaping Auckland without incident proved to be very optimistic. Cyclone Gabby came as advertised: the most dangerous cyclone New Zealand has seen this century. Due to very high winds our plane couldn’t be safely towed to the gate. Minutes later most New Zealand Air flights were cancelled. The scene was predictably…
-
En route
I’m writing this as we sit in the airport lounge in Auckland, fortifying ourselves after 22 hours of travel from Toronto via Vancouver. The 14 hour flight here from YVR was by far the longest flight either of us had ever taken. All in all, it wasn’t too bad although we both came off the…
-
Preparing to Board!
The pandemic isn’t over. Logically we know this. In fact we both received our fifth COVID shot in the past two weeks, along with the requisite headache, chills and aching shoulder that accompanies this now biannual booster ritual. Other than the jab though we sense that COVID has loosened its grip on our sense of…
MacsTravel Blog 